A Jamais Tombé
by FearlessDranzer
Summary: Yaoi angst gore AU, TalaKai. Tala's trying to lead a normal life but it's a little hard with a past like his that comes to back to get him. To make matters worse he has a Guardian Angel who's not just a little out of the ordinary.
1. Prologue

A Jamais Tombé

By – Arty, Akuma & Yaumi

Arty – I'm so sorry I know I should be writing other stories but my muses. God help them. They are going to need it.

Yaumi – Jeez, what are you talking about?

Akuma – Yes indeed! All you do is go on and on! You always threaten to kill us but do you? Never!

Arty – Get the hell on with the disclaimer.

_Disclaimer – If I owned Beyblade the show would be a hell of a lot different. Number 1 – Tala and Kai would always be kissing. Number 2 – Hillary would die about three nasty painful and prolonged deaths. Number 3 – Hitoshi would walk around with his shirt off. Obviously I don't own it. T.T_

Besides those facts only Verandi, Chris, Claus and Sam are mine.

One Final Note

Arty – I have to say this because I feel so proud! I searched for days for a picture of Brooklyn who is in the new Beyblade series. I mean days two gets haunted look in eyes. Anyway I searched for the longest time before I finally came upon a tiny website that had a lone picture of and orange-haired boy. That gut feeling, yes it was coming on strong. I searched around the site for identification of this orange-haired wonder, my guts turned out right. It sure as hell was a guy named Brooklyn. Luckily Brooklyn's past with a certain few members in the show fit in perfectly with my plot line. Even if it didn't I would have changed it. Thanks for listening to me ramble! It just felt so good to finally find a picture of him. And damn is he a nice piece of flesh.

Prologue

(Ten Years Earlier)

Two men in police uniforms came into the hospital waiting room. They walked past an elderly couple and a man with a broken leg. They stopped in front of a lone little boy.

"We regret to inform you that your parents have pasted on. Because of this…" The man on the left talked in a monotonous voice and the boy stopped listening after he heard 'pasted on'.

'This wasn't supposed to happen! They aren't supposed to leave me! I'm just a little kid! What am I supposed to do now! Those men must be lying to me! I bet they enjoy watching the tears flood my face. They are liars. My parents would never leave me.'

The little boy stood up and screamed at the top of his lungs, "You're lying! I know you are! My parents would never leave me! They can't die they just can't…" The tears flowed unchecked from the boys beautiful marine colored eyes. He turned and fled the hospital room and the building itself.

He couldn't take it anymore, the smell of medicine, the near death people, people's tears, nurse's laughter, the pain and joy of others. Why were they so lucky, while he a small boy of ten had to deal with the death of two parents.

The boy collapsed in a puddle outside the hospital entrance, the big fat raindrops washed away his tears. 'Why me? Why is it me? What have I done?' The boy got one last fleeting glimpse of the outside world before he collapsed in the police officers arms.

(One Month Later)

He ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Quickly he ran away from that house, away from a family that didn't love him. 'Is it love when you are beaten once a week for no reason? Is it love when a man touches you in a place where only a wife should?'

Two tears leaked out of his eyes but he wiped them away roughly. He only stopped running when he ran into two people. A girl and a boy, they looked to be around his age.

He fell on top of them and the two struggled from underneath. He could hear them cursing at him and punching his new bruises. He slowly sat up and apologized.

The other boy grabbed his wrist and pulled back the jacket sleeve, and gasped when he looked at all the cuts and bruises. The girl looked horrified and haunted. He has a sinking suspicion that the things that happened to him had happened to her. She had the same air as he did, a desperate air.

"My name is King, and this is Queen," The boy spoke softly and he brushed a lock of white hair out of his eyes.

"My name is Tala."

"Tala, you are coming with us. You won't get abused anymore I promise." King spoke quickly and Queen held out her hand to help Tala up.

"Welcome to the gang Tala." She said quietly.

(One Year Later)

Tala smirked as he zeroed in on his target. It was an elderly man walking with a boy in his late teens. Tala couldn't tell much about the boy, all he knew was that he was older and seemed to not like his companion.

Tala watched the old man place his wallet in his pocket, the side opposite the other boy. 'This is too easy. The fool has no clue what's happening.'

As the pair stepped down a darken road Tala saw his chance. He walked a little faster and ran by the old man's left side. He didn't even have to knock into him. Tala felt free as he walked at the same pace in front of the old man, but a cold hand on his neck told him otherwise.

"Filthy, disgusting vermin! He isn't even fit to walk the streets of hell. I will teach you to try and steal from a Hiwitari.' The old man spoke in a deep gravely voice and the hand around his neck tightened.

But suddenly the hand wasn't there anymore. The older boy had knocked away the man. The man sat in a puddle struggling to get up. The boy hurriedly glanced from the old man to Tala.

"Run, you have to run or he will kill you. That is if being in a gang doesn't kill you first. Take my advice, go back to school." The boy had a deep voice and a beautiful pair of eyes. The pain and coldness in this boy put Tala to shame.

Only one thought came to Tala as he ran away as fast as his little legs would take him, 'I hope that boy will be o.k.'

Tala might have been young but he realized what the old man could do to the boy.

(Kai's POV)

'I don't understand why I did that. I will surely get myself killed this time. He hired faster guards. These ones might be able to catch up with me.' Kai could faintly hear his grandfather scream that this would be the last time Kai ever would cross him, the last time Kai would ever breath.

Kai launched himself over a fallen garbage can and landed heavily on his right leg, he heard something snap. With each step Kai took, the pain going up his leg intensified. The pain flooded his eyes making it near impossible for him to see.

Unconsciously Kai realized he had run into the graveyard. He had run two miles and climbed barbed-wire fences, brick walls and had somehow not managed to lose his grandfather's goons.

Kai heard muffled cursing and a man falling to the floor. This was it there was nowhere else to run. With his ankle he wasn't sure how he even made it this far. A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him running would do no good. He heard one of the men laugh in a sinister way and Kai knew his time was up.

He stood there like a beaten animal, too broken to move. He heard a faint popping noise and felt what must have been a red hot rod being slammed through his lower back.

Kai looked down and watched the blood drip from the wound in his stomach. The bullet had entered Kai's back and gone out through his stomach. Kai gripped his stomach but the blood flowed unfaltering. 'This feels worse that one of grandfather's beatings; I think I'm going to die.'

In his hazy world of pain Kai heard another pop and felt the same rod hit his good ankle. Kai fell to the ground in a heavy thump and his breathing got heavy. There was too much stress on his body and Kai was losing too much blood too fast. He could feel his body going into shock.

The other man had pulled a knife and slashed Kai's chest. Kai's hood fell back and his eyes drifted up towards what he had been led to believe was heaven. In the midst of his pain Kai realize to him, there was no God. 'Why, why was I made this way? Why was I born? Why has God thrown me to hell?'

The gun went off again but missed Kai. For some unknown reason Kai felt himself moving as though he was guided by tender loving hands. Kai felt cold when he realized where his body was moving.

Slowly Kai had begun to crawl up the stone angel in front of someone's grave. Kai felt his breathing become heavy and he finally felt safe when he fell into the angel's arms. Kai coughed and his body was raked with tremors and a small stream of blood fell from his lips. One more pop was heard and Kai had a troubling last thought.

'Where do people like me go?'

Kai stopped breathing.

-

Arty – O.k. Yeah the last part was a little disturbing but what the hell, I enjoyed writing it.

Akuma – And to think you're such a huge Kai fan.

Yaumi - crying heavily He died! He died in the first chapter! Not even the first chapter it was the prologue!

Arty – I'm sorry Yaumi! hugs Yaumi

Akuma – Arty apologizes if anyone wants to kill her for writing that, but she wanted a unique story.

Arty – I don't think I have seen that many stories where the guardian angel's death is shown, and that the guardian angel was already being a guardian before he died! I don't think most guardian angels lead tortured lives either.

Yaumi – Most guardian angels never lived in the first place!


	2. Enfer de cimetièr

Arty - We only reply to reviews every other chapter! But I have to say that I'm pretty sad that the story didn't get any more reviews. Oh well.

Akuma - Your lose.

Yaumi – Don't be mean!

Arty - If you have any questions about the Fanfiction or want to talk to me you can get me at FearlessDranzer on aim.

Hugs and Kisses to my lovely beta, Anti-Strategy! She is the chocolate of my Oreo! 

**Chapter 1 - Enfer de cimetièr **  
(7 Years later) 

His home was the one place he didn't have to act like everyone expected him to. It was where he could be himself, where he was safe from vengeful gang members and from the outside world's troubles.

You would be correct if you called Tala's home his sanctuary and he wouldn't doubt it. Once before, Tala had a home - he used to live on the streets and fit in with the best of them. He could pick anyone's pockets and con anyone to do anything he wanted.

He was an important member of a deadly gang. He would take someone's life and not care. Steal things from anyone at any time. But if you told him all this he would deny it. He would say he always had a loving home, and that your information was wrong. But if you brought up the fact that he was saved by a faceless figure one night, he would fall to pieces.

He would sit there like a zombie replaying that scene over and over in his head. Something told him that the one who saved him was dead, but he denied it. He would claim he never heard the agonized screaming. Never heard the sickening sound of silenced gunshots. Never met that old man.

Eventually, Tala blocked from his mind the details of that night. He cursed the gods and the fates that had hurt his savior. And in a weird act of blessings the gods let him forget the gruesome events of that night. 

But then the gods seemed to ignore Tala after that blessing. Tala prayed to them day after day and went to church regularly. Yet he always felt a vacant feeling where there should be warmth.

Tala slowly shuffled along. Putting one foot in front of the other seemed like a heart stopping feat. For the condition Tala was in it was a wonder that the tears weren?t streaming down his face.

With each step Tala fought to keep going and fought to keep his tears in. 

"Why me? What have I done? Why? Why am I like this? Why won't you help me god! Are you even listening?!"

Tala strongly doubted that a single soul would listen to something as pathetic as him.

Even his friends would reject him if they found out what he did. The whole entire school would look at him like he was the scum of the earth, barely fit to lick a poor man's shoe. It was tough, the whole school looked to him for almost everything, to see what was cool, what was stupid and to see how they should act.

It could get nauseating at times that people could be so dependant on one person. Tala constantly had to keep looking over his shoulder to make sure he didn't mess up, didn't slip up. To be sure no one knew of his disgusting past.

Now his 'disgusting past' was coming back from the dead, it just wouldn't stay down. It was like an annoying fly, always hovering around him. His past coming back to get him was a big part of Tala's current worries. The people from his past beat him, almost once a week. For two months now.

Tala shivered as he walked past the old cemetery and the wind howling like a caged animal. He stopped briefly and looked in.

'The name of my rescuer could be written on anyone of these stones, yet I will never know.'

A feeling of pain stabbed his heart and he squeezed his eyes shut as he trembled slightly.

When Tala opened his eyes the first thing he looked at was the huge statue of an angel. It drew him in, he was like a moth to a light, he just couldn't stop looking. He started walking towards the cemetery in short cautious steps. He grabbed the rusted handle on the huge metal gates and yanked it. It let out a groan and didn't budge. He should have know better - no one had been in this cemetery for decades, the door was most likely rusted shut.

Tala shrugged and turned around. He walked almost halfway down the block trying to ignore the nagging feeling in his gut. With each step it got worse, until finally he threw his hands up in disgust.

"Fine! Fine! I understand, all mighty and powerful God, you want me to go in there. Well, I hate to tell you this, but the door is rusted shut! How do you expect me to open it now, God? For God's sake, look at me! I was just beaten to a pulp and now you want to annoy me? Jesus Christ." Tala's words dripped sarcasm as he walked back down the street towards the cemetery.

When he got to the door again it was rusted shut and he couldn't open it. He sighed in frustration and rolled his eyes.

'I hate you, God; I despise you with all my being. God forbid you give me one day of rest.' Tala rolled the sleeves of his sweatshirt up to his elbows and turned towards the large brick wall of the cemetery. He shook his head to clear it up a little; the cold was getting to him. His nose and ears felt frozen and already the wind was working at freezing his exposed forearms.

Tala groaned as he looked at the wall before him: it was taller than him, but if he jumped high enough he might be able to grab the top. Tala made up his mind, crouched down, and with a burst of speed he sprung up and made a wild reach for the top of the wall. Luckily, he managed to grab it and he tried to pull himself up. His arms strained from the stress they were being put under, and vaguely Tala was sure that one of the cuts on his arms had reopened.

He moaned in pain when he knocked his knee on the wall. Stars appeared before his eyes and in his pain he let go of the wall. Tala landed flat on his behind and felt the air rush out of his lungs. He lay there for almost five minutes trying to regain his breathe, he could hear his heart pounding manically against his ribcage. Tala turned slightly and gasped when he felt a sharp stick jab his thigh. Tala moved to get the stick, but he froze. In the moonlight he could see a dark liquid coating his arm. Reluctantly, he touched two fingers to it and brought them up to his face. Carefully he sniffed it and his nose scrunched up in recognition to the metallic smell.

This was his own blood. Tala just calmly took a roll of medical bandages and a few tissues from his pockets.

'You never know when you will need these things. I think I would have been dead long before now if I hadn't kept these around.'

Carefully he wiped up the already freezing blood, being careful so that he wouldn't infect his reopened cut. Tala turned his arm slightly and felt some of the blood rush from his face, the huge gaping wound slowly oozed blood dripping it down his pale arms.

Tala swallowed back down his lunch and wrapped the cut up tightly in the white bandages. Slowly, a little red dot appeared on the dressings.

'It will have to do for now, the house isn't that far away but, I need to get into this cemetery. It's the most retarded feeling! Jeez, I must be going nuts.' Tala sighed and slowly stood up. He felt the muscles in his leg spasm where the stick had jabbed him.

Tala walked around the whole outside of the cemetery counter-clock wise and was almost convinced there was no other way in. That was until he spotted a couple of trashcans on the far wall.

'Well I'll be damned. Guess I am getting into this place after all.' 

Tala picked his way through broken beer bottles and large sticks that were threatening to tear at his body. Tala jumped over a particularly nasty looking branch and almost tripped. He regained his footing and carefully climbed up onto the garbage cans.

The metal can groaned as Tala stood on it, but it seemed sturdy enough. Quickly he pulled himself up and over the wall, landing carefully on his tiptoes. Tala sighed; he hadn't even realized he had been holding his breath in. A wave of pain assaulted his temples and Tala placed his index fingers on them, rubbing gentle circles. Eventually the throbbing died down but by that point the moon had risen high in the sky. Tala checked his watch and let out a moan of displeasure. It was 12:56, and a little late to be searching around a cemetery on a school night.

Tala turned and looked at the statue of an angel that had captivated him earlier. Looking closer at it, the statue didn't look so interesting as it did before. In fact it would have looked like a normal angel statue had it not had an extra pair of wings.

Tala did a double take and stared long and hard at the extra set of wings the angel had and, ever so gently, the wings twitched. Tala quickly backed up, scrambling to get away from the statue. He backed into a gravestone and stood there for a few seconds, taking in the scene around the statue. He was almost sure that the statue had never had two pairs of wings. So what made today any different?

Tala couldn't tear his eyes away, and gathering what was left of his courage and interest, Tala moved forward towards the statue. Carefully, he reached a hand up to caress the extra pair of wings. They were soft and made of black feathers, and certainly didn't belong to the statue. He continued to pet the wings until he heard a low growl. He froze and slowly he started moving again.

'If this is what I think it is I'll shit myself.' Tala mumbled to himself grimly.

He moved around the side of the statue and stared up in pure horror. The blood. The blood was caked onto the statue in dried clumps. It was frozen in a way that made it look as if the statue was regurgitating blood instead of singing praises and it seemed to cry blood. Tala shook uncontrollably as he finally looked at what he had been avoiding, the body lying in the angel's arms.

The blood was everywhere on the figure, but it seemed to be heaviest on the chest and stomach. In fact, the stomach wound looked like it was a gunshot and Tala could see clean through it. Unable to control himself any longer Tala turned to the side and heaved his guts up. 

He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and looked back up to see large gleaming red eyes. Tala stared open mouthed at the beautiful eyes that had captivated him so.

**  
****(Earlier That Day) **

Kai sighed and moved his finger in little circles, stirring the conjured puddle. It was just another boring day as it had been for almost the last ten years. And just like every day Kai couldn't help but feel sorry for himself, he almost wanted to beg for forgiveness.

Gently Kai started preening his feathers; if they were left dirty he wouldn't be able to fly. Suddenly in front of Kai there was movement. Rei slowly moved up to the cloud Kai was floating on, stalking his prey with the utmost stealth. Rei giggled to himself and jumped up onto Kai, imagining the look on the teens face.

Suddenly Kai was slammed backwards by an unidentified fly object. **(Arty - Tee Hee, I always wanted to say that!) **Kai groaned, as the thing he now presumed was a person, dug their elbow into his stomach. Kai pushed them off and tried to stand up. But to his horror he was pinned down.

He saw golden eyes staring back him and Kai let out a groan.

"Rei?" Kai spoke in a soft voice that seemed like a whisper.

Rei had a cocky grin on his face, proud of himself because he had finally managed to sneak up on the stoical teen.

"Yes, dearest Kai?" Rei bounced a little, earning more groaning noises.

"Get off me." With that Kai threw Rei off of himself and stood up, wiping off his pants. Rei smirked in a way that showed off his unnaturally large canines. "I sometimes wonder how you even walk around in those pants, they look so heavy. Or maybe your pants are that baggy to hide your fat." Rei teased, he wanted to see Kai angry, he looked sexy when he was angry. But than again Rei, thought Kai looked sexy no matter what.

"Why do you always seem to ask me that same question, the only thing that makes my pants heavy is the locks hanging off the back, hanging over my ass. Oh no, Rei dearest! Were you looking at my ass?? Kai asked with dripping sarcasm, but held a smirk that rivaled Rei's own. It was about time Kai did this experiment; he had always suspected that Rei seemed to be into his own gender. What better time than now? 

Rei held a hand to his mouth and did a fake gasp like the kind you would see on a soap opera. "Why Kai! Why would I stare at your behind? Is there something special about it that I don't know?? Rei laughed. He clearly was having fun teasing Kai.

"Only that I have three butt cheeks."

Rei laughed, "No you don't."

"Oh, so you have looked?" Kai grinned like a laughing hyena; he had caught his prey and was defiantly holding on tightly to it. Kai rolled his hips suggestively and saw Rei's eyes being drawn to them.

Rei licked his lips suddenly looking fearful. "You can't tell anyone. I will never get a second chance if you do! They think it is against their religion! Kai please don't say anything!" He almost looked like he was about to cry and for the first time in his life Kai felt his heart wretch. He decided to play stupid.

"What can't I tell anyone?" Kai looked Rei right in the eye and walked off the cloud jumping towards the gates of heaven.

If Kai had turned around and looked he would have seen Rei collapse to his knees in happiness. And notice tears of relief drip from his cat-like eyes. Kai sighed contently and jumped from cloud to cloud. Softly, his feet touched the ice crystals that formed the cloud, some of the cloud rolled over his feet giving the impression that he was floating.

To angels and demons it was common knowledge that the demon's sin would weigh them down so they couldn't walk on the clouds. The angels would ether float an inch or two above the cloud or could walk directly on top depending on how holy they were. Yet the creatures in between those worlds like fallen angels who couldn't fit into one category, could float in the middle of the clouds.

Kai went over those thoughts in his head. He challenged everything the demons and angels thought. "The god they believe in is an ass. He is no better than someone like me. To them someone like me should never be allowed to exist; I am the scum of the earth, placed here to make them look good. They are no more or less holy than me or anything else. Angels are disgusting."

An old man came around the side of the gate pushing his half-moon glasses up the bridge of his nose. The man did a double take when he noticed that the clouds were almost up to Kai's knees. Carefully, the old man relaxed his face so that he wouldn't show how disturbed the young boy made him. 'Things like him shouldn't be fit to walk the clouds.' The old man thought, then he felt nauseous, this thing was one of god's creatures and to him all creatures were equal. Why did God make creatures like this, everyone knows they are forever damned. Forever fallen.

The old man took a book that magically appeared in front of him and opened it to Kai's page. Inside the man's mind was an index of everything that had ever died or was living. He suffered with this knowledge every waking moment, knowing what disgusting things people did. He knew when someone lied to or defied God. He knew the pain someone felt when he or she was dying. Almost every day he wished for the pain to end, and almost every day he never felt happier. He was at home in all the misery and woe, because somewhere there was always a glimmer of happiness, and it was things like that which kept him going. Things like Kai made him feel like the world was going to hell.

The old man looked up from the book and nodded at Kai, than the golden gates to heaven opened. And for a second all Kai saw was black and than a blinding light shown through. Kai winced and stepped through the barrier entering the inner realms of heaven. He wandered the golden paved streets; heaven looked exactly like earth except everything seemed pure and untouchable. The angels all seemed have a holier-than-thou attitude and their pets acted exactly like them. It all sickened him, everything, the way they acted and dressed, the way they moved and god forbid the way they were so loved. Kai bumped into one of the angels and sneered at them while they glared, he could hear them whispering nasty things about him. They all thought he was dumb and stupid, gross and ugly. Truth is told that Kai was anything but ugly.

He had hair that spiked up at extreme angles and was duel-colored, dark blue and slate gray. His eyes could reflect what you were feeling and you could find a calm easy person inside of them. It could be because of the way they seemed that hypnotizing red color that changed shades slightly from day to day. He was tall and thin, it was something you didn't see that often, he was as skinny as a stick but you knew he could kill you three different ways before you could say 'hi.' He looked exactly has he had the day he died minus all the wounds.

Kai moved off into a dark alley away from the lights and perfect beings. He held his head in his hands as a spasm of sadness made his body tremble. Suddenly a trashcan was knocked over and startled Kai out of his sadness. He moved closer to see what made the noise and was surprised when a tiny being floated up out of the garbage. She had to be less than half a foot tall. Kai held out his hand to the creature and she landed onto it, delicately holding onto his thumb. Kai brought his hand close to his face and saw the tiny creature's mouth make a surprised 'o' shape. 'I bet she is frightened too. I am the one forever damned, only a handful have ever turned out like me.' Kai immediately saddened again. This beautiful creature was also frightened of him.

'Hiwitari, you are not to be forever damned. In fact the council of elders needs to talk to you.' She never moved her mouth but her soft voice filled Kai's mind and he felt warmth. 'Are you a telepath?' Kai had never met someone like her before, in fact most angels and demons didn't know things like her existed.

'In a way, my people can communicate mentally. But you are needed there is no time to waste, the elders need to see you now.' the little being responded in her soft, bell-like voice.

Nodding with understanding Kai was about to take off when he had another important thought.

'How do I know you are not fooling me?' Kai knew that no matter how innocent she looked that she could be evil.

'Trust your heart Kai. Listen to what it tells you.'

Kai knew she was right deep inside he knew she was innocent and different from the angels he had grown to mistrust. He took off into the air with the tiny faerie-like creature hanging on to his thumb. 'What are you?' Kai asked as he suddenly felt at ease with her near him.

'I was a special bred of pixie that until one hundred years ago was considered an extinct sub-species, now we are called Fae Pixel. There are less than a hundred or so of us, so it is rare that you see one and even more rare that one talks to you.'

Kai finally got a good look at the tiny creature and than he realized that she was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. She was a gothic fantasy, with pale sickly skin, dark eyes that looked like bottomless pits and a tiny mouth that looked a crimson color. She must have been petite even for her species; she looked so fragile that Kai was sure if he closed his hand on her that he could crush her like a clog of dirt. Her clothing looked to be like an eighteenth century gothic dress but more exotic, some of the ribbons had been replaced with chains and belts and Kai was sure he could see some bloodstains. 'What is your name or should I call you Fae Pixel from now on?'

The girl looked thoughtful, rubbing her temples, 'It has been a long time since I have told someone my name; in fact, I have almost forgotten it. You are the first person to ask me this in a while. I would tell you, but you have to go see the elders now.' She was right; Kai had just landed in front of the large building that held the Elders of Heaven. Kai looked up to try and see the top but it was hidden from view by clouds. 'I need to leave you now. Don't fear though, because I will tell you my name before you leave. I am most certain that you will get a second chance.' She blew Kai a kiss and large mechanical wings appeared on her back and she dropped out of his view down below the clouds.

Kai was almost certain he had seen odder things in his lifetime. He was also almost certain that he would see her again, if Fate gave him a chance. Kai walked into the large building that resembled something of a huge castle, the type of thing you would expect to see in a Disney movie. Kai sighed, he was glad it at least wasn't an ancient Victorian Mansion like the one he grew up in. Kai took a deep breath and tucked one of his longer side bangs behind his ear.

If what the Fae Pixel had been saying was true, then he might get a second chance. He might just be able to set foot back on Earth, he just might be forgiven. But than Kai had a thought. He couldn't leave him behind after almost the decade they had known each other and he could never forgive himself. Kai new it was wrong but he needed to be home, maybe this time he would get a chance to live life like it was meant to be. He might be able to make friends and not have them die. He might be able to love some one, maybe even have a family. It was almost too much for Kai to stop, and for once he didn't bother too. The huge smile broke out on his face and for once he was sure this smile wouldn't make people cringe in fear. But one though remained persistent all through his daydreaming.

'What about Rei?'

Kai opened the heavy gold and silver gilded doors and stared in awe at the beauty. Kai made up his mind, it was the only thing he could do as a friend. Kai hated to admit it but he almost wished he hadn't met Rei. Rei was holding him back, but Rei was also one of the main reasons he had made it this far. 'Why would they pick me to have a second chance when I have only been here for seven years? Rei has been here for centuries.' The answer seemed to be beyond Kai's grasp. He had no idea what he would have to do to get his freedom. Kai just had one hope.

'I wish Rei and I could be free together. Where he won't be hated for the sex he chooses to love. Where I won't be hated for the way I was made. Where we could be friends without boundaries. Where we could find true friends.'

Kai took a deep breath and walked into the ominous building before him. This building had never before been seen by human eyes and was hoped to remain that way. It had a special defense mechanism where it vibrated extremely fast and became naked to all of humanity's prying eyes. This building had been built so it would never be discovered and it was also built to be the safest place in all the worlds of Earth. The Elders of Life lived in this very building, the people who controlled who died and who lived. Who went to heaven and who went to hell. Kai had always harbored an extreme dislike for them; he would have to behave extremely well for them to consider anything of him.

Kai paused for a moment, 'What if that little Fae Pixel thing lied to me and they really are bringing me here to tell me I will be condemned to never rest. To tell me my soul will never fit into ether group. What if they condemn Rei? They couldn't, he is too pure for that. He should be an angel; it was what he was meant to be. Maybe these so-called Elders should look into the heart instead of just the history of the body.' Kai gritted his teeth and squared he shoulders, immediately annoyed at himself for thinking that way. They could read minds and he knew it. They would be able to tell if he were lying, they would be able to tell if he hated them. With one last look back he walked through the large hallway towards a lone marble statue.

There was a loud bang behind him and Kai whirled around. It was just the large front entrance doors closing. Kai mentally scolded himself for being so jumpy. He looked around, and it seemed that the only thing within his sight range was the disturbing marble statue ahead of him. Kai walked hesitantly towards it and stopped a few feet away from the base. Now that he actually looked closer the statue was not made of marble but something that shimmered brighter than gold, but was a purer white than angel's wings. Kai stared up in awe - the statue was of an angel with three pairs of wings, each one as large as he was. The angel was beautiful; she had eyes that were so intense, and yet so unseeing that she seemed more beautiful than she should have. The angel's skin was perfect and unmarred, unlike his own. Kai scowled: even angel statues had to be perfect.

'Damn them all to hell,' he thought.

Suddenly the statue blinked, "Kai Hiwitari," The voice boomed in a feminine but deadly way. "You were brought here by the Council of the Elders. Let us see if you are fit to raise your tainted eyes on their beautiful souls. Place your hand on the base of my statue." 

Kai was in no rush to obey the perfect being, but as he thought his usual defying thoughts an unforeseen power moved his hand and placed it on the statue's base. The power seemed to be the same one he felt before he died, the one that made him climb into that angel's arms. It made Kai shiver and twitch, dying was something that even after all these years he didn't want to think about. Some people want to die in a way that will make them famous; others want to die so they don't have to live. Some just enjoy killing. With Kai's death there was just something wrong, like, 'How could something like that happen to him?' Something like that can happen to anyone. No one is immune to death.

Kai clenched his jaw tightly together, and a silver light began to shine through and around his hand. Kai stared in awe and the statue started chanting weird jumbles of words. He tried to listen and hear what she was saying, but it was like the words ran away from him, like they teased him. That was stupid words don't tease people, Kai shook his head to clear his senses. The statue kept up the chanting in a high-pitched inhuman voice. Suddenly a bright light emanated from where the angel's heart would have been. Then the singing stopped and Kai was thrown into blackness.

He was falling.

It was an odd thing to sense but somehow he felt like he wasn't moving. Falling without moving, that wasn't possible. Than Kai heard a voice, "Kai Hiwitari, your quest has been proven true and your heart has proven fierce. I am Alexius, the Keeper of the Elder Gate. If you attempt to harm the Elders of Life in any way, may God help you, for I will thrust you into a world full of despair and pain like no other, where hatred and death reign supreme. Your very thoughts will never stray from the impossible task I will give you." The voice made Kai shiver; it was a child's voice and that just made Kai feel worse, a child was now threatening his very sanity. Why did it seem like everyone was out to get him? Maybe Kai was just being melodramatic - why would everyone in the world be against him? Suddenly, a bright light shone in Kai's eyes, blinding him for a moment.

Kai shut his eyes and moaned at the intense pain he was feeling. It was almost like the light was trying to purify him. But he knew for a fact that the light couldn't harm him, he was, after all, one of the Forever Fallen.

'I guess being forced into being damned for the rest of your life isn't so bad. It has its advantages. I wonder if I will get an item discount like the senior citizens?' Suddenly a deep and booming voice filled the room and the light died down enough for Kai to see.

'Hiwitari Kai, you are the youngest damned angel we have. To young to be truly damned.' Kai looked around but none of the Elders had moved their mouths. 'Telepathic', Kai guessed. Kai looked around and noticed twenty-one angels and demons, all of which seemed more beautiful than life, surrounded him. They all had long eyelashes, unblemished skin, amazing bodies and their hair shone more than the sun. Kai was disgusted; they were all so beautiful and wise, yet none were Fallen. How could you be some of the wisest people in the world, when you have an important group missing?

'I sense distress in your heart, little one,' a kind voice spoke out and Kai turned to face one of the older demons. His hair had grown white with age and Kai noticed that he was one of the oldest looking members there. Most of the members were beautiful and looked to be only thirty or so.

"Why- why are you all so beautiful and young? One would think that in order to grow wise one must grow old." Kai spoke in a cold, confused voice, his eyes never once leaving the old demons face.

'Some don't think it is important to find age with wisdom and wish to remain young forever.' The old demon spoke, choosing his words carefully as if to stay on every ones good side. Than another angel spoke up, 'Hiwitari you were brought here in order to have your soul judged. Some of the other council members seem to think it fit that we give you a second chance.' This angel spoke in a nasty, nasal voice and looked down his nose at Kai. 'Would you like a second chance Kai?' A motherly voice spoke and Kai thought the angel looked to young for her voice. The girl looked to be one of the youngest there and she seemed to be the slutty flirtatious type that Kai never liked. Kai nodded with a cold, indifferent look on his face like he had never seen the way she batted her eyes suggestively at him.

A tiny voice giggled, 'Yay! We decided that if you wanted another chance, you would have to watch someone and help them through their bad times!'

Kai looked a little bored; he really didn't want to listen to some forty-year-old woman bitch and moan about her terrible life. That Kai realized he had heard a giggle, he turned and saw a tiny demon girl that looked to be only six. Kai stared harder at her and felt drawn to her eyes, they were an amazing shade of silver and seemed to look like bottomless pits. An old soul, she was an old soul. "What do you mean by watching over?" Kai asked bluntly.

'Have you ever heard of a guardian angel? The old man who Kai spoke to before looked over his glasses at him. Kai nodded. 'You are to watch over your assigned person and to keep them out of trouble. Right now the person we will send you to is on the verge of becoming something like you. I am sure you don't want the same thing to happen to them.'

Kai thought for a moment, "And if I am successful with my task?"

'Than you may become an angel or a demon, it will be your pick.'

"What if I don't want that??

"If a situation like that arises we will try to work with your demands. Now, are you ready to take this responsibility?"

Kai thought for a minute, 'what about Rei? I just can't forget him. He has been here too long. He's like a younger brother or sister, you just can't leave them behind. If I can do this, I will give Rei the chance to have a second try. I'll let him live. I had too many chances and he had only one. It isn't even his fault that he's Fallen, if you are the child of a demon and angel that is the only place for you.' Kai nodded. He had thought this through, and he would take anything they threw at him.

'Than so be it,' a tall angel that had remained quiet through the whole meeting spoke. 'You will watch over Tala Valcov. Before we sent you down, you first need to know a few things.' Then the tall angel pressed a button in front of him and two people appeared. A couple. The woman was softly crying. Her long red hair fell into her face as she cried and her husband brushed it back behind her ear in a loving gesture.

"Around ten years ago my husband and I were in a fatal car crash leaving the one thing we cared most about behind and hurt. Our child, Tala, was crushed and ran away, our baby was sent to foster care but Tala still ran away. Tala joined a gang and murdered people, stole from them, and did other unpleasant things, but Tala is still our baby. A year or two after Tala was a member in the gang, our child was caught and their ways changed. Our child's savior died that night, a terrible death that he didn't deserve. Heartbroken, our child still searches for his savior and…' The wife broke off in a sob and Kai noticed that her beautiful marine eyes were bloodshot. Her husband continued gently, "And he blocked the period of time when they heard the gunshots go off from his or her head, so they don't know you are dead. Please don't tell our baby who you are when you go to help them. There is too much stress on Tala already." Kai nodded, he understood the parents wanted him to never tell Tala who he really was; it would only get worse. "Tell me one thing, is Tala a boy or a girl?" The wife looked sad for a moment and she buried her face in her hands. "God speed to you Kai, God speed."

Suddenly, time stood still for Kai and he was once again hurled into darkness. 

Kai shivered as an unbearable cold washed over his body, followed by stinging hot pain all over his body. Something was being shoved through his stomach and back, and he felt a knife slice his chest. Kai groaned and held his head in his hands. He heard a loud crack and than felt his ankle hanging at a weird angle and he was afraid to look down at it. All over he felt cuts and scratches everywhere, bruises dotting his skin like freckles. Kai screamed in agony as the cold stop numbing his pain and he fell into nothingness.

Kai landed with a thump and felt the air whoosh out of his lungs. He looked up at what he presumed was the sky and saw snow falling. It fell all around him in drifts and blew into his wounds. Kai heard the sounds of a person climbing a fence and suddenly he knew where he was. Kai looked up and to the right, there was an angel statue. The statue he had died on. The blood dripped from her mouth, which was sculpted to make her look like she was singing now, she looked like she was vomiting blood. Kai felt a swelling of nausea in his chest, knowing he had damaged this statue with his blood and death made him fell truly damned. How could he ever be angel if he couldn't stop ruining the things God had set on the earth? In fact, Kai was surprised that the person he was supposed to be looking after wasn't dead already with his luck.

Kai sighed and noticed that the pain was receding - or maybe he was just used to the feeling of dying. Kai moved his hand down to his abdomen and felt a warm liquid that was quickly turning cold. Kai brought it up to his face and grimaced when a drop fell onto his cheek, rolling down and off his neck. He lay there and waited, waited for someone that would hopefully save his meager life. Kai felt something tenderly stroking his wing and then heard the gasp. The person moved around to the front of the statue and Kai heard violent vomiting. Kai gathered just enough strength to open his eyes and stare at a boy with bright red hair. Then Kai lost consciousness.

A figure observed them from up in a tree and they whipped a tear off their cheek. Seeing Kai almost die again could make someone want to go on a murderous rampage. Something so powerful should be defeated so easily just didn't seem right. It was utterly wrong. The figure whipped away more tears and settled himself in for a long cold night in the tree.

If the figure had stayed awake a few more moments they would have seen Tala carry Kai home and they would have seen the weird blinding light appear in front of the pair. A tiny creature appeared from the light and settled down on the nameless figure.

**  
**

Arty - So! Kai and Rei are really good friends which is something you would expect but as you notice Kai is a little surprised that he felt to strongly about Rei! And who is the figure that Tala found in the cemetery? O.k. so we al know it was Kai. But neither one knows that it's the other! Wow I just can't make sense today! Um? I hope that if anything is unclear that you will tell me!

Yaumi - Tune in next time!

Akuma - Yes tune in for the ramblings of three deranged psychos.

Yaumi – Don't be so negative!

Arty - Who are you calling a psycho?


	3. Un Gardien

A Jamais Tombé

Arty – Shit, I really don't want to reply to these reviews.

Yaumi – She lies! She loves reviews and reading them, replying too!

Akuma – But some reviews stick out at you.

Review Responses

Tallia-Kuroneko – My lovely beta! You have not replied to my e-mails. What is the matter? But hugs to my first reviewer! Hey how could you fall asleep while reading my chapter I am hurt! LOL I still love you! Hugs and Kisses!

Destinys-Hand – Shit you are like my new best friend. _Gives her best friend pin_ No seriously you guys should check out her review it's like three pages long. And I would love to talk to you more but I would start rambling and people would bring out the guns and yeah, it doesn't get any better from there. But let me tell you, you are very good at observing your reading. Trust me I will always write this way, it's the way I think!

KieashaKai - Yeup his life isn't going too well but Kai's purpose is to make sure that Tala's life improves!

To anyone else I didn't reply too –

You are all too nice to me! _Tears start coming_ Look I'm leaking! LOL. Let me tell you some of your reviews were so nice and I am so happy no one has written anything mean to me yet. I love you all and hope you like this chapter!

Arty – Ok I need to say a few things about how the story is going so far cause the outlook changes a little. – It's still a dark gothic fiction but I need to show some characters that will be important. If some of the things that Tala does seem weird it is because of the way he thinks.

Chapter 2 - Un Gardien

Tala used his sweatshirt sleeve to wipe up the sweat that dripped down his face. He propped Kai's body against the angel statue that he had just gotten him down from. Tala's body shook, for he hadn't eaten or slept in a while, and now he was starving. Even though Kai looked anorexic-like, he was still heavy and Tala had a feeling it was because of the wings. Stepping back for a second, he looked at Kai's body. Tala realized this wasn't what he first thought it was. It couldn't be an angel. Angel's were supposed to be pure and holy. Angels didn't have black wings. Tala shook his head. 'Maybe what everyone thought was true about angels is actually wrong,' he thought. 'Maybe them looking this way makes them seem more pure and innocent in a creepy deranged way.' Tala laughed to himself. There was no way that this creature could be as pure and holy as angels were. But no matter what it was, it was still hurt. Tala bent down over the body and slowly removed the shirt to get a good look at the chest and stomach wounds. Shuddering, he moved the dripping material and bunched it up under the boy's armpits. There was nothing Tala could do to help someone with wounds of this extent with just a tiny roll of bandages and a bloody handkerchief. Sighing, Tala took the bandages out of his pocket and wrapped Kai up from the armpits down to his hips. He secured it with the medical tape that also made a home in his pockets. Tala made sure the makeshift dressings didn't come undone. He brushed his bangs out of his eyes and froze; his hands were wet and dripping with the other teen's blood, so he rubbed his hands off on the grass. Some of the blood had gotten on his black sweatshirt, which would be ruined if he didn't soak it in water soon. Tala took a better look at the boy in front of him. If he wanted to make it home soon he would have to wake the boy up. Gently, Tala slapped his face, waiting for a reaction. He shook his head as nothing moved.

'I can't stay here any longer, I need to get home or I'll pass out. But I can't leave him here. I could, but the police would think someone was murdered. The boy will most likely die soon anyway with those kinds of wounds and –Wait a second…how can I think something like that?! My parents didn't raise me like this! I have to take him to a hospital! The wings might be a problem though…' Arguing to himself Tala, threw up his hands in defeat. "Alright Almighty God, what should I do with him?" Nothing happened. "Screw you!" Shaking his head, Tala muttered curses at God while tenderly hooking one of Kai's arms around his neck and bending down to pick up his legs. Kai unconsciously held on tighter to Tala's neck, almost completely cutting off his savior's oxygen supply. Eventually his grip loosened up. Standing while holding Kai was something Tala could not do so well. He was ether going to be forced to walk hunched over, or Kai was hoofing it. Grumbling, Tala took his first few steps with the dead weight in his arms. The boy's wings touched the ground and Tala almost stepped on them.

Finally he made it out of the graveyard, stopping every five minutes to rearrange the boy in his arms. 'What a sight I make…anyone who sees this is going to be curious. I can't walk like this through the neighborhood! Someone will see us!' Staring up at the night sky, Tala eventually moved his gaze towards the Kidou Industries building. There was a large clock on the front that chimed ever hour with a dull ring. The clock read an ungodly hour, which made Tala angrier; he was wasting his needed Sunday night on other people. 'I should have never gone into that graveyard…that was my undoing.' Somehow Tala managed to make it to his block, and there he could see his apartment clearly. Filled with a renewed vigor, Tala walked a little faster towards his destination, his sanctuary. For a second, Tala stopped his thoughts as they clouded with questions. 'What am I doing?' He continued to walk faster and faster, his steps coming quicker. Tala would have smiled but he heard that stupid clock chime again and became aggravated. Kai shifted in his arms and shivered and Tala looked down and noticed the blood leaking out of the teen's shirt. 'He leaked through it that quickly? His wounds must be worse than I thought.' Blood leaked through onto the ground and Tala noticed some of it falling on his wings. There was something wrong with that…the blood shouldn't fall onto this angel's wings, and they shouldn't get dirty. 'He's an angel right? Wrong…He can't be. There's no way! He doesn't look like an angel…Angels don't even bleed! R-Right?' The thoughts echoed away in his mind and Tala bit his bottom lip at the scene, for it seemed too depressing to him. He was carrying this beautiful creature that was dying and there was almost nothing he could do to save it. It had barely been a half hour, and the blood had become a small constant drip falling to the ground with ominous splats. Tala shivered as he heard a drop hit the concrete, than another, and another…Tala climbed the steps to his apartment building. He was so tired, but he had come so far. He wasn't giving up now. Lying to the side, Tala tried to catch his breath concentrating on making it an even pattern. Kai moaned and shook his head from side to side, causing Tala to fell deep sympathy for him. 'He's in so much pain. I want to help, but there is really nothing I can do.' Suddenly Tala started walking. He needed to help this winged creature. No one else would if he didn't. The doorway loomed in front of him and Tala sighed in relief and giggled.

Tala paused for a second or two before he began to search his thousands of pockets until he felt a familiar cold metal brush against his fingers. He wrapped his long fingers around the keys and pulled them out. He carefully slipped his key into the keyhole and opened the door with a loud click. But then again, anything seemed loud in a place like this. Numb fingers searched blindly for its prize and a smile graced his beautiful features when he was victorious. The room was suddenly lit with a flash of harsh bright light, and Tala moaned in annoyance. He dragged Kai over to the kitchen and laid him out on the floor. Tala dropped his book bag down with a heavy thump and knelt down beside the hurt figure. He reached for the now blood soaked shirt and gently tugged it off him. Tala grimaced when he saw that the bandage had bloodstains. The wet shirt got stuck on Kai's arms and Tala had to struggle for a few seconds before one of the offending hands made it through the armhole. The rest of the tank top came off with ease, but Tala had to make sure the shirt didn't touch the boy's face. Waking up with blood in your eyes was something no one wanted. Once the shirt had come over the boy's head, Tala tried to throw it into the corner but something was holding it back. 'What? Oh, duh. Wings.' Tala mentally hit himself in the head for being so stupid. Gently, he moved the boy onto his side and noticed a silver metal running through the black shirt. Moving his finger against it Tala realized it was a zipper. While moving the zipper slowly down, he suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. 'What am I doing?' Tala asked himself as a dazed look came over his face. 'Undressing a hot guy…Doy!' Another voice shouted at him. Tala dropped his head down into his hands and groaned. Hearing voices was not good.

Tala laughed out loud. He had heard about people going nuts, most about people who didn't even know they weren't sane. Other people around them didn't know they weren't sane until the last minute. Until that last moment they are alive, when one of their best friends shamelessly murders them before other friends. Friends who will in turn have their souls lost in a bloody horrific butchery. One by one, watching those whom they know scream out for help that they will never get. Waiting until your turn comes up, when you are next in line to seal your fate. A fate where your blood covers the walls like some kind of messed up master piece, ether put there by a mad man or an extremely disturbed artist. The sane people sit there and wait out the last moments of their lives, tears silently streaming down their faces. They ask themselves, 'Where did I go wrong?' or the occasional 'Why me?' Than the killer turns on you, the next in line, holding the bloody butcher knife above his head ready to add your life force to the rest of the bloodbath, when suddenly you see what can only be God. You never feel the warm blade enter your skin and you never see the crazed sadistic look in your killer's eyes, nor do you ever see the look of despair on a loved one's face. You are saved from knowing your fate on someone's cellar floor, mixed in with others, buried under layers of cement, where you never know your killer walks free. He is free to mingle with other souls who never know there is a psychopath walking in their midst. But somewhere in your heart, you know that he will strike again and take down countless unsuspecting victims. The tears flood your face as you and your other dead companions watch someone pretend to be God.

Tala fixed his gaze on the wall, causing a hole to burn in the plaster. His mouth was hanging open in a look of disbelief. 'Could something like this be true? Could such a heinous act really have happened? Is someone that detached from reality?' Suddenly Tala involuntarily shook, his whole body going rigid with fear. Someone was watching him. Slowly, Tala looked around but there was no one else in the apartment with him besides the creature before him. On whim, Tala looked down as his eyes swept over the beautiful figure and the mystifying eyes that were looking at him. 'Eyes?' Tala's own eyes got bigger as he stared down into the red orbs beneath him, unable to look away. He started shaking; the creature was so close to death that he couldn't help it if he was no longer unconscious. Suddenly the figure spoke in a raspy voice, and Tala jumped. "What you saw disturbed you, am I right…Tala?" It wasn't a deep voice, but to label it as a girl's voice just didn't seem to fit. "H-How d-do you know w-who I am?" Tala's voice cracked. He started to back away until the back of his leg touched one of the legs on the chair. Tala didn't notice he was cornered.

The creature sat up, gathering his knees to his chest. He put one thin arm on his knees as the other placed next to him pointed at Tala. "Does what you see now scare you?" Tala was unable to answer, for it was just so surreal. The boy moved again, this time placing the right hand on the floor next to the other. His knees also touched the ground. "Well, what is it Tala?" Tala let out a whimper, confused as to why the boy could do something like this to him. "Am I too ugly for you to look at?" The boy spoke again, his voice going an octave lower. He suddenly was sitting with his legs folded under him, his arms moving closer to Tala. Sitting still, Tala winced as a cramp slowly formed in his calf. He chose not to answer the winged beast before him. Kai crawled closer to him and placed one hand on his knee, the other cupped his chin. "Well, am I too ugly for your eyes to see?" Kai looked into Tala's wide marine eyes. Silently, the younger boy shook his head and found his voice. "You're beautiful," he said without thinking. He blushed when he realized what he said. That outburst just made Kai smirk harder. "Are you going to kill me?" Tala asked hesitantly.

Kai continued to smirk, for his face gave nothing away. Slowly, he moved his hand and let two fingers rest on Tala's forehead. He muttered words in Latin that Tala didn't quite catch and suddenly his eyelids felt very heavy. He wanted to close them and sleep. Sleep until the point where he didn't care when he woke up. But he found that he was slightly worried for the bluenette in front of him. 'Could he live through the night?' he thought. "Your stomach," Tala said hoarsely with his last ounce of strength. "Just sleep Tala," Kai said as he watched the boy give into the spell he had cast, and slept peacefully.

"When you wake up," Kai began, "You will still remember all of this. You'll wake up and have to deal with me, the Damned Creature from Heaven who was sent to help you. I didn't know they still made guys like you." Kai spoke even though he knew Tala was sleeping and wasn't going to answer. What he didn't expect was the slight moan the emitted from the redhead's mouth. Kai smiled and ran a hand through Tala's hair. "You're going to have to be a lot cuter than that to get me to leave you alone," he whispered. Kai laughed as the boy let out a small snore, causing him to give up. He picked the younger boy up and carried him towards his room, dropping him off in the bed.

Kai managed to wander back into the kitchen and was happy to realize that his wounds were healing nicely, for he knew they wouldn't scar. But that also pained him. He could remember just yesterday looking in the mirror at perfect skin. Now his flawed skin had once again reared its ugly head. He looked at his bare arms and saw the small thin patches of pink tissue. Kai moved a hand to his face, wondering if the tattoo ink would also be there. He crawled over to the stove and stared at the tinted reflection. Blue fins stood out against his skin and Kai ran a hand over the tattoos he had been forced to get. They were there…inked permanently on his skin against his wishes. But he should have known better. If he disobeyed his grandfather, there would be hell to pay. Shaking his head, Kai thought it was better if he didn't try to remember that night. If the tattoos were still there, would everything else be too? Kai felt his ears, and just like he remembered, there was the cold metal that was imbedded in his skin. Twisting around, Kai tried to see if the phoenix tattoo was still there, and much to his amazement, it had also remained. The beautiful red and golden hues glared at him from his reflection in the mirror. Kai traced his finger lazily over one of the flaming feathers. He truly felt like his old self again and he pretty much looked like he used to, blood and everything. It was just the wings that remained to haunt his mind about memories of Heaven. Preening himself, Kai idly ran fingers through his wings and tried to rub off some of the dried blood. With futile attempts put aside, Kai started to sulk. 'Where in the agreement did it say I had to die all over again? Those stupid angels should know how people feel about dying once…Let alone twice!' Kai's eye twitched when he thought back to the council meeting that had seemed like a week ago. All their glory and beauty meant nothing to Kai. He was solemnly convinced that they, along with everyone else in the world, were out to get him.

Kai was about to get up when he realized he had forgotten to check for one last mark of taboo on his body. He slowly moved his arms out in front of him as tears began to stream down his face, along with running eyeliner. Engraved in his skin, from a knife, was a poem: I pray to God every night to let me die. I wish I could kill myself, stab me in the heart. It was still there, after he had carved it in his skin. The pink scar tissue stood out against his skin and was going to be there, forever imbedded in his arms. The other arm was no different, but held another verse of the poem: I pray to God every night to let me die. He let's me live, I don't know why. My life is dying by itself, cursing me to kill myself. He remembered he had been little when he had done this to himself, maybe only 12 or 13. People would tell him he didn't know the meaning of being depressed, and others thought he just wanted attention. Truth was, he just went through the stages of depression like everyone else does once in a while. He hurt himself, starved himself. He was beaten, tired, and sad. Eventually, when Kai stopped sleeping, he got taken to the doctor and every night they pumped drugs into him so he would pass out.

The room had dropped a few degrees since he had first got there and now, in his old human skin, he could feel the cold penetrate his bones. After dying he had never wanted to live again, he was fine in heaven by himself. Angels just can't leave people alone though. 'Rei should have been one of those angels,' Kai thought. 'It's what he wants to be. I hope for his sake that I can complete this. I don't know what I will wish for, but I don't want to be an angel. Angels are the real Hell.'

A moan drifted in from the bedroom as Kai remembered the sleeping teen he had left there. The clock read six AM and Kai figured Tala would have to get up soon, so he took the spell off him. Waving his fingers around counter clockwise, he muttered more Latin words, fluently speaking the dead language. For a few seconds his fingertips seemed to glow blue, but it faded when the sunrays started striking the window. A ray of light fell on Kai and he had the resist the urge to cover his eyes. Something was going to happen and Kai knew it. Never before had he witnessed light this bright without some mythical being appearing. A sphere of silver light formed in the sunrays and exploded into thousands of shards the size of a dime. Each shard had a special shine to it that seemed to dull the color. But through the explosion, Kai could see a tiny figure forming. He sighed; it looked like that Fae Pixel he had met earlier.

The light dulled and seemed to disappear almost immediately. The figure had a gray glow to their skin, and it turned out it was the Fae Pixel Kai had met earlier. But there were some slight changes in her appearance that at most Kai would not have noticed. She appeared to be very tired, but she was determined not to let it get the best of her. The girl had the same outfit on from before, but it seemed to have lost some of its luster. She appeared older than she looked the first time and Kai was slightly weary about that. "You look different, tired," Kai said cryptically. It was meant to be a question but came out as a statement.

The Pixel titled her head and smiled. 'You're very observant.' She was still speaking through Kai's mind. He wondered if she could even speak with her voice. 'And if she could contact people with her mind, could she read their thoughts?' Kai inquired himself. "Can you read my mind?" He asked quietly. 'No, I can only read what you want me to, or what is directed at me.'

"So you have some limits?" She nodded. "And here I thought you were like some kind of perfect and all powerful being." Kai laughed. Nothing in this good-forsaken world was perfect. Even that innocent boy sleeping in his bed was tainted by evil. The things Tala thought about made Kai's stomach twist, apparently he must have been thinking that way for a while if he seemed so at ease with it. Even though Kai was starting to feel sick to his stomach, he ignored it and acted like nothing had happened. 'Everyone has limits Kai, as you have seen. God does too. You have limits and I have limits. No matter how powerful I seem, I am still one of the most weakest and fragile creatures on this earth. My species is slowly being strangled into dust. Nothing can stop our decent to extinction. For some reason we have all lost our power to become pregnant and are dying of some unknown sickness.' Kai nodded, for he remembered her telling him that her species was slowly deceasing, but he didn't know things were so bad. 'They can't have children and are being wiped out by a mysterious disease.'

'Yes, didn't I just tell you that?' She looked annoyed and Kai didn't really want to go on her bad list. "I didn't mean for you to hear that, I was just repeating it to myself." She seemed to understand his excuse, but made no further move for conversation. "Why are you here?" The Pixel had closed her eyes and she cracked one open looking like a lazy cat. She stretched her arms a little and settled down into Kai's hand, which had been lying open. 'Well she certainly knows how to welcome herself,' he though. 'I heard that,' she replied with a giggle. 'But I think that now I have to tell you why I came, or I will get into trouble. You see, I have been chosen to live out the remainder of my life as a soldier for my Queen, and as a messenger from Heaven. My Queen has sent me to you with a message.' She paused for a breath, but Kai was really interested. She had mentioned a message and something about a Queen.

"I didn't know you had a Queen," Kai said. The Pixel looked annoyed, 'I didn't know you humans interrupted people when they are talking.'

"You weren't talking," Kai stated in a bland voice. 'Now you're just being rude,' she said. But she looked like she was enjoying this little too much. She was a little like Rei in that aspect. "I'm not being rude you stupid pixie. You are." He was getting tired of her attitude but he figured it had come from living such a long life. She didn't act or speak like someone his age. She jabbed him with her nail barely even earning a drop of blood. 'I'm not a pixie, you stupid creature. Now keep talking and I swear I will send images into your brain that will haunt your every waking hour.' Kai nodded dumbly. He wholeheartedly believed she would carry out her threat.

'Now then, my Queen sent me to you with a message. This message is top secret and uber important.' Kai was a little surprised; he didn't think she would have picked up teenage slang. 'Some of the angels and demons on the council don't want you to succeed. They think someone like you should be thrust down into the deepest level of Hell, where the ultimate sinners go.' He believed her. With the look most angels and demons gave him, he was surprised they even agreed to give him a second chance. 'Certain people, who will not be named, are so against you that they have sent out other angels and demons whose soul purpose is to stop you from helping your ward. They will do anything it takes to stop you. They will kill him,' she pointed to Tala, 'you, and anyone else in their way. You can't let them do that. It is important you stay alert at all times.'

"But why do you care so much about what happens to me?" Kai broke in. He was a little afraid she would hurt him. To his surprise, she looked like she was expecting that and was hoping he would say it. 'There is an ancient legend about our kind, written down by a famous philosopher. His name is not known, but people say he was the son of a virgin goddess. The goddess loved her son so much that other gods were moved by it and blessed him with knowledge at a young age. One day he came out of the forest, where he was on a walk, and wrote something down in a rock. It was a legend about how a unique bred of creature had just been created that was so special…it was cursed. The curse was about how they would one day lose everything they had and everything they ever dreamed of having. Nothing would escape their plight, but one day in the near future a savior will be born. For longer than any can count, the savior will live a shunned live forced into hiding by humans. Even their own species will reject them by thinking they are a creature of the damned. But after many years, the savior will come out of hiding and save the cursed creatures that are named Fae Pixels. If they can find their savior before an unholy mission is carried out, they will never see the light of day again.' She stopped talking and was quiet for a long time. Kai sat their thinking, 'A savior will one day come and help them. That is great news. I feel stupid that I've gotten worked up over some species that I don't even know about. It feels great to know they will be saved.'

"All you need to do is find your saviors…that can't be so hard, can it?" Kai asked quietly almost to himself. He didn't expect the Pixel to answer. 'Remember, I think I promised you we would meet again. Last time you asked me my name, but I didn't give it to you. I thought maybe the Queen was going to have her hopes dashed again, and that you weren't the sign we had been looking for.' She rubbed her eyes hard, scratching at her eyelids, trying to get the tears to go away. 'I didn't want her to get hurt again. We have been friends for so long. I knew her before she was the Queen, when she was just a normal girl. We had been the best of friends. But then someone found out she was the next in line for the throne. I couldn't leave her, so I became her most trusted warrior. My name is Manna, and I will help my Queen forever.' The tears started coming out of her eyes and fell onto Kai's hand. They seemed to crystallize and sparkled with an unworldly glow, which by now Kai had figured was a patent of this particular little Fae Pixel.

Kai smiled. "Your name…Manna…You told me your name." The girl stopped crying and looked up at Kai. 'Yes, my name is Manna. Not many people know. To them I am known as the Queen's Warrior.' Kai smiled again. He would have rubbed her shoulder, but he was he was too afraid that he would hurt her. So, he opted for cupping his hand so she could sit down. 'You are the sign we have been looking for. You are not the savior though. We don't know who is. But, we know it is not you. Because you are the Sign that the Savior will come, the sign was also in the legend, a different version from the one I told you.' Kai nodded, for he knew he couldn't be the savior. He had not been around long enough…but no one was still around to be that old.

'It's extremely important that you finish your mission,' the Pixel began. 'Something in it has to do with our Savior. We don't know why our how, but the 'Unholy Mission' has something to do with you. Some thing bad is going to happen…the wheels have been set in motion. There is no way to stop them. Kai, you must fulfill your mission, for the sake of many people lies in your hands.' Manna than stood up and let her beautiful metal wings hold her eyelevel with him. She waved good-bye. "Don't go! Manna!" Kai called out. But in a blast of light, Manna was gone and there was nothing remaining to tell anyone that she had ever been there.

Kai rubbed his temples. 'Oh, what a wicked web we weave. And so ladies and gentlemen, the plot has thickened.' He wished it hadn't though; the mission had been hard enough without knowing that the lives of a species hung in the balance of his actions. There were also people after him to mess up his original mission. This was getting retarded…He felt like he was in some sort of James Bond movie, and the time bomb was slowly ticking. Kai looked at the clock that was hanging over the stove and realized it was time for Tala to wake up. His fingertips glowed blue again, and more Latin words were muttered. Tala began waking up.

If it had been anyone else but Manna telling him that people were out to kill him, he would have laughed in their faces. Yes, he could believe they were after him. Hadn't his own grandfather sent his men out to murder him? It was just that fact that someone like Manna told him he needed to save someone and himself from death. Not only them, but he also needed to help save entire sub-species. Most people don't go around saving sub-species. It was nuts, psychotic, and unbelievable. Kai was about to crack up laughing when he thought back to the conversation, but he remembered he had to leave. It was morning, and Tala would be up and confused.

With a shudder, Kai got up and dusted himself off. It was going to be a long day. He made the sign of the cross over his chest and suddenly, he was gone.

Tala stretched out in the bed and looked over at the clock. He had somehow managed to wake up around the time he usually did. But unfortunately, waking up meant going to school and school was a big part of Tala's worries. He placed his bare feet on the wood floor and suddenly all the events of last night sprang into his mind. 'Saving the boy, dragging him home, wrapping his wounds, him waking up, those beautiful red eyes...' Tala shook his head and ran into the kitchen, but no one was there. There was no blood on the floor, and there was no sign of anything. Tala's mouth fell open. That couldn't be right…there was someone here last night! 'The blood all over me will prove that.'

Tala ripped off his shirt and threw it onto the floor. He braced himself for all the wounds that would mar his skin, and he almost fell over in shock.

Every single wound, bruise, and cut that had graced itself on his body was gone. Scars from past abrasions remained where they were, but his current injuries were gone. They had healed, leaving only tiny scars. He was shocked and couldn't believe it. He kept running his hands over his body where he had been hurt. The cut on his forearm was gone, the last traces of it were disappearing, and he was certain that soon not even a scar would be able to be seen. His clothes were even clean. The cuts had been mended perfectly, for you could barely even see where the rips and tears were. His sweatshirt was clean of the bloodstains that he was sure he would find. He stood there and searched, but nothing remained to tell him about last night besides his memory. 'It must have been a very vivid dream.'

Arty groaned and rubbed her head as the alarm next to her bed blared into her ear. She threw her black pillow at it, muttering curses that she normally never would have said. But she was so tired. There was another mutter above her, and a creak in the upper bunk bed. She giggled as her twin brother muttered something in his sleep about monkeys taking over school. She had always known he was a disturbed guy.

She got out of bed with a sigh, but she wasn't about to give up her privacy to her older brother waking up. 'He is such a pervert! Next time I see him looking at me…Oh, he'll be sorry!' He was starting to move, causing her to hurry up. Arty crawled over to the dresser and searched through their clothes. She threw around five pairs of her brother's boxers on the floor. "Damn you Chris, you can't keep your crap on your own side! After all the years we lived together, your boxers are still on my damn side of the drawer!" She muttered to herself. She smiled triumphantly when she pulled out a tiny blue pleated skirt. She yanked down a pair of her brother's boxers that she was wearing and slipped the school issued skirt on. Arty turned back and checked on Chris making sure he was still sleeping. Once again, she dove into the dresser of assorted clothes. Arty managed to pull out some of her jewelry and other skirts, but her sailor tops were missing.

"You might wanna check your closet. Don't you remember that Mom put them all in the closet? And why were you wearing my boxers and my shirt?" Chris's voice floated out from the top bunk. From the corner of her eye, Arty could see him stretching like a cat.

"Dammit! I told you to stop looking at me when I change!" Arty yelled. Amazingly, this early in the morning, Arty could still yell her lungs out at Chris. She grumbled more garbled cusses under her breath and went to search through their closet. "Chris, for a boy, you certainly have a hell of a lot a clothes." Chris smiled and moved in his bed so that he could get a view of Arty. She pulled out her school top and pulled out the tie. Close to yanking her shirt off, she remembered that Chris was in the room, and left saying things about 'perverted older brothers'.

Chris slipped down onto Arty bed and than jumped down onto the floor. He picked up his uniform out of the large pile of clothes Arty had thrown around the room. It was a blue pair of pants and white button down shirt. He pulled them on, adding his pajamas to the masses of clothing everywhere.

He left the room to see Arty coming out of the bathroom. She was quickly brushing her long gray hair and messy bangs. Chris walked by and plucked the brush from her hand and ran it threw his gray hair. He shook his head like a dog and the silvery locks fell down into his face. Arty yanked the brush back from him and threw it into the bathroom and it hit the floor with a loud 'clang'. "I was using that you know," Chris, said just to annoy her.

"Go shoot yourself," Arty deadpanned.

"You're such a charming person in the morning," Chris said in a giddy way, he sounded like an ass. "You always ruin my morning," Arty replied. She sounded like she would kill the next person who even coughed near her.

"Arty, you need to be more positive! Come on you two! You're going to be late if you don't get a move on!" Their mother yelled from downstairs at them, making sure that they understood. She was certain they did because all of a sudden she heard a noise that sounded like the stampeding of buffalo.

"Ack!"

"Crapola!"

"Chris, that isn't a word!"

"My leg!"

Mrs. Dowde winced every time she heard another 'bang!' crash or 'boom!' Suddenly there was silence, the eye of the storm, and then the thunder started. BOOM! Mrs. Dowde closed her eyes and put her hands over them. Suddenly, everything was quiet and she opened her eyes to see a normal sight. Arty was lying facedown on the floor with Chris sitting on her back. 'My goodness, those two! I should have never said to hurry up. They always end up being late.'

Chris rolled off of Arty and pulled her up, dusting off her skirt and the back of her shirt were he was sitting. "The day just hasn't started if I don't sit on my little sister's back." Arty cracked open an eye and shot him a mischievous look. 'Oh yeah, Arty's awake now.' Chris nodded his head and smiled in his own lopsided way. Mrs. Dowde smiled and looked at her identical twin children.

"Your brother, Tom, called. He said it has been too long since he last saw you. He wants you two to write him or something. Using that P-mail thing." Arty smiled and corrected her mother, "You mean E-mail?" Her mother smiled and ran a hand through her daughter's long hair. "What would I do without you?"

Chris smiled. She had asked that question so many times that he knew the answer that would always make her laugh. "You'd be stuck in a ditch trying to use a pill-phone to try and call me." Their mother laughed and lightly punched Chris on the shoulder and kissed his forehead. "No one likes a smart ass. But for you two little smart Asses, it's time to go to school."

Arty looked at the clock and hit herself on the head. She took the Pop Tart in her mother's hand, only to have it yanked from her by Chris. So, she grabbed the other one. Chris said he would be there in one minute and rushed up the stairs taking them two at a time. 'There will always be differences between us. Not just the gender,' Arty thought to herself as she watched Chris disappear around the hallway. He came back with something black wrapped up underneath his arm and refused to let her see it. He claimed it was a surprise. Arty never liked his surprises; for they were usually tricks played on her that were even a little funny.

She huffed in annoyance and stomped towards the door, slipping her feet into her boots, which were already laced up. She walked out the door with a clonking noise as her loose boots hit the floor. Chris appeared a minute later, his gaze fixed on Arty as he slipped on a pair of skateboarding shoes and grabbed two skateboards. He threw one down and rolled it towards his little sister. "Hey babe! Wait for me!" Chris shouted. Arty slowed down and took the black skateboard from his hands and threw it on the ground exactly as he had and slowly skated down hill towards their high school.

Chris lingered a moment longer and seemed caught in his thoughts. He heard a voice yelling for him, and Arty and turned around with a smile. He punched his friend's waiting hand they hurried up towards Arty.

Arty – _throws confetti in the air _Whoot! I got my next chapter done!

Akuma – In a record ninety-three years!

Yaumi - _giggles_ Any questions about Arty and Chris will be answered in the next chapter but let's go over what we know! _Puts on teacher's outfit_

Arty & Chris

They are twins.

They live with their mother.

They have an older brother at his first year of college, but they haven't seen him in a while.

Chris has a best friend who is currently anonymous.

OK, yeah I know the whole saving the Fae Pixel crap thing is annoying but bear with me; their Savior plays a major role in the story. It is still mostly about Tala and Kai but it has a side quest like in a videogame. Yes Arty is basically me in the story but there are slight changes. I just needed an OC and I figured why not myself? Any who if you don't want to know about the Fae Pixel side quest thing, it doesn't really matter to the end of the story. It is just there to make it a little interesting. I'm sorry if my writing got too light hearted at the end but it needed to be.


	4. Ils sont des hérétiques

A Jamais Tombé

Arty – Damn, that was a lot of reviews quickly.

Yaumi – But remember like we said, we aren't answering them until the next chapter!

Akuma – Yup waste too much time, because it takes us so long to type the story. But we love each and every one of you reviews. We love you DestinysHand!

DestinysHand (Because we can't resist)

Well I'm not really sure who the uke is in the story. But I kind of know but I don't really want to give it away. But for a little hint think about the way the both of them act. It seems like Tala is more of the submissive type, but hey why not make them both switch off? Because as you will find out Tala becomes a lot braver in the upcoming chapters, it may have something to do with his friends. His friends are also going through giant changes. Now the side story isn't really a side story because it eventually ties in with the true enemy and the ending. The Fae Pixels are very strong creatures when it comes to fighting. And they don't like heaven…. Kai's appearance will be explained more in this chapter, as we will have a section from his POV. Yes, Tala is a disturbing individual but this story is about him finding love, growing up, facing his past and realizing a big secret. Yeah crap like that. The story was originally rated for gore and love concepts. But for a hint in the future, watch how the other people's relationships are, Tala bases his attitude on the way his friends feel!

The story title and chapter names are in French. The title means 'Forever Fallen', Chapter one is 'Enter the cemetery', 'A Guardian' and this chapter means 'They're heretics'. (Demonic)

Nephilim – It's what Rei is and will eventually be used in the story. Rei is a child with a human mother and an angel father.

Chapter 3 – Ils sont des hérétiques

Tala walked at a leisurely pace along side his closest friend, Chris Dowde. Ahead of them Arty sung out loud the lyrics to some song. Chris smiled, "You know she is obsessed with that song. I'm sorry I even told it to her. She went right out and bought their CD." He laughed and used his foot to accelerate himself as he rolled steadily along.

"What song is it?" Tala asked as he swung his backpack around to his other shoulder and used his free hand to move his bangs out of his eyes.

"Faggot."

"Excuse me?"

"No, that's the name of the song. It's a song called 'Faggot' by KoRn. I'm not quite sure how old it is, but it is one of their best songs, to me at least. Then again, I haven't really listened to them much." Chris spoke while keeping a gray eye on Arty's retreating form. He loved the way the school issued skirt flew up a few inches when she skateboarded. It gave way to a nice look at her thin legs. In fact, it was almost too much of a good view. If he could see it why wouldn't others? He didn't want anyone to see her. He should be the only one. Chris gritted his teeth. If he told her she would want to know why he was looking at her ass. Suddenly there was a dull pain in his arm and he immediately snapped back into reality.

"Hey Little Boy Blue, go sleep somewhere else," Tala said. "I wanna know what the song's about. I mean, it has to be something if Arty's going around singing it out loud. She hates her voice." Tala was genuinely curious. Who wouldn't when you thought someone just called you a faggot?

"It's about a fag. He's singing about how gay and straight guys really aren't that different. In the beginning he just sings about wanting to know why everyone picks on him. And if you listen hard enough you can hear Arty singing it." Chris laughed; he knew how much his younger sister hated her voice. He also knew how badly she was obsessed with the song.

_Here I am different in this normal world._

_Why do you tease me, make me feel upset?_

_Fucking stereotypes, feeding their head._

_I am ugly please just go away._

Tala grimaced a little at the words; it reminded him of how he felt about the beautiful guy he had rescued last night. He didn't even know if the guy was even real. 'Am I gay?' Tala though. 'I thought he was beautiful. He was beautiful.'

_I can see inside you fine, this blessing in disguise._

_Why do you treat me this way?_

_Make the hate stay._

'What will they think? I don't know. What if I'm over reacting? No, I don't think I am. Okay, quick test.' Tala looked quickly over to Arty and tried to think of perverted things to do to her. As hard as he tried, he felt nothing stirring, except for the feeling of wanting to hit himself. He was disgusting trying to mentally rape his best friend's sister. Mentally he hit himself. He was tired and he felt like he had run a marathon last night. 'That attempt was crap.' Without really noticing, Tala waved to group of girls that he knew from school. 'New test subjects?' Quickly he picked out the prettiest one and replayed his earlier thoughts. It was faint but he defiantly felt a reaction. 'So at least I'm not totally gay.'

_I sound like I can never seem to escape, all the laughing all the pain._

_If you loved me, what would you do?_

_Nothing probably, you'd just go away._

Arty's singing was really getting on Tala's nerves and he wished Chris would say something. Almost as if he heard Tala's prayer, Chris answered his problem, "I would get her to shut up but than I would have to scream my lungs out to get her to hear me. Let's just hang back and let her get outta range." Tala nodded, "Her singing could be worse. But, I mean, it's also not the world's nicest song." Tala struggled with his words but Chris nodded like he understood. Offering Tala a smile, Chris began to hum his own tune.

_I'm just a pretty boy, whatever you call it._

_You wouldn't know a real man if you saw it._

_It keeps going on day after day son, _

_YOU FAKE if you don't want none._

Tala shook his head as he tried to clear his mind of what someone like him would want. Deep down he knew that he was afraid of what he wanted. What if what he wanted turned out to be something he didn't want? All the thoughts swirled around in his head too fast, and Tala started to feel dizzy.

_I'm sick and tired of people treating me this way everyday._

_Who gives a fuck, right now I got something to say,_

_To all the people that think I'm strange, that I should be outta here locked up in a cage._

_You don't know what the hell I fuck now anyway._

What was it Tala truly wanted? Did he want girls with overly large breasts and huge thighs or did he want the creature from his dreams? It was all too confusing; Tala focused his thoughts on something else like Chris's humming. He was humming a tune that seemed familiar, but Tala couldn't remember the name. That was okay though. Anything to keep him from thinking about his worries was good with him.

_You got this pretty boy feeling like I'm enslaved._

_To a world that never appreciated shit;_

_You can suck my…. _

Finally Arty's singing faded away and Tala could finally hear himself clearly. And with her singing, and her song, went all of Tala's worries.

Tala scratched his head as he sat on the cement stairs in front of the school. "Let me get this straight: you brought a video camera to school to tape a day in your life for your brother?"

Chris nodded eagerly, his silvery hair bouncing up and down with the movement of his head. "You got it Sherlock. Damn, you're a smart one." Chris smiled widely and a few of their other friends walked by. He waved to Johnny but then his look changed to a horrified one as Hillary walked up behind Johnny. 'Poor Johnny is her current new victim. I remember when she followed Arty around, after a day Arty punched her lights out. Wish I had a camera than.' Quickly Chris took the video camera out of the black bag hanging off his shoulder. He lightly tapped the 'on' button.

"Is it on?" Tala asked moving closer to the camera's lenses.

"Yes it is on Tala and I'm getting a lovely view of your left eye. Come on, move! I wanna tape Johnny's reaction."

"What reaction?" Tala looked around quizzically until he saw Johnny, then he nodded. "I'm gonna love this one."

Johnny kept looking over his shoulder as Hillary steadily moved closer. He walked a little faster but she didn't change her pace, for she was like a lion stalking her prey. And Johnny was prey that everyone should feel sorry for. Once every two weeks Hillary picked someone to follow around non-stop, ether it was because she was 'desperately in love' with them or because she hated their guts. This week's currently victim was Johnny. Hillary, as of late, seemed to have a fetish for gothic boys, especially the ones with eyeliner. And for that reason only Chris had stopped wearing eyeliner.

Chris hated when he wasn't wearing eyeliner. Arty loved it when guys wore eyeliner and, hell, Chris would dress in drag if it would turn Arty on. He would do anything to get her to truly notice him. In fact, Chris was so obsessed with Arty that he wondered if that would cause Arty to permanently hate him. But these thoughts were suddenly thrown from his mind when Hillary cornered Johnny.

She grabbed his arm, causing him to drop his books, and then she jumped up and down, causing her already too short skirt to ride up her thighs a few inches. Chris turned the camera to Arty for a second and saw her upper lip curled in disgust, when she looked Chris's way he quickly looked back. The camera was off focus for a few seconds and the image turned black and white as it bounced off someone walking too close to Chris. Immediately he turned with a snarl on his face to call out obscenities, but than he realized it was just Miriam. He saluted Miriam as she turned while walking into the school; she shot him the middle finger and disappeared from view.

Suddenly something yanked the video camera out of his hands, and when Chris turned he realized it was Tala. The younger boy now held the video camera in front of his face, watching Johnny scream as he was dragged away in the small monitor. "Hey Chris, does Arty know what you're doing?" Tala was smiling and seemed to have a hard time holding in peals of laughter.

"That was a classic. I didn't know Johnny could scream like a girl," Chris said, avoiding the question. Suddenly Miriam came running back towards them. She stopped in front of them and was breathing heavily. Her chest rose and fell quickly as she tried to catch her breath. "What is it Lassie? Is Johnny in trouble?" Chris said with mock interest. Tala started laughing and through his laughter he was babbling something about Johnny being dragged away.

"Ha ha, jackass. You're a real riot. Remind me to never tell you some kick ass info again," Miriam scowled. Despite what she always said, Chris knew that she would never hate him.

"So what's up Lassie?" Tala asked, his eyes shining with laughter.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to say that," Miriam smirked. "There's a rumor going around the school. Yeah, I know you guys could care less about rumors but I think you'll be interested in hearing this. Supposedly there are two new super hot guys, and they're both in our grade!"

Ozuma sat down next to Tala and folded his arms over his chest. "That's great and all but when did they become gay?" Chris snickered and Miriam's eye twitched at her boyfriend. "You know you should be careful about what you say to your girlfriend." Miriam frowned and stuck her lower lip out.

"Yeah," Tala added. "You should be worried Oz, she is the one that gives you free blow jobs. Remember? The other girls make us pay." Chris held up a hand over his mouth to hide his smirk, and Ozuma paled a few shades.

"Since when have you ever believed this jerk?" Ozuma said with a strained voice. Even though Tala had been lying, Ozuma wasn't so sure that Miriam was in a good mood. When Miriam was in a good mood, she tended to let every crack aimed at her hit its mark. Because when Miriam was happy, no one could ruin it for her. If she was mad—now that was a whole different topic—it was best if you stood out of her way.

"Oh yeah, laugh it off you guys. Let's all make fun of poor old Miriam. Why? Well, you see, we just get a kick out of it." Miriam was obviously in a good mood.

"Can she read minds or what?" Chris laughed as he poked fun at Miriam. Ozuma smirked and latched his arms around Miriam's waist and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "That's Miriam, my mind reading girlfriend who just happens to be very good looking." Ozuma played along with Chris's joke.

But then, Chris got serious. "Have you seen Arty?" he asked as he looked around the school steps, but didn't find her.

"Dude, you have a serious sister complex. Arty is in school, harassing people. I think she is going to do something in the main office," Miriam said as she took the video camera from Chris's hands and looked through the viewfinder. "Is it on?" Chris nodded. Miriam focused the camera on her face and waved. "I'm Miriam and this is my boyfriend, Ozuma." Ozuma gave a little wave.

"Why do you have a video camera in school?"

"My brother wants me to tell him how we have been, so I figured I'd save some trees and use a camera." Chris waved his hands around as Miriam focused the camera on him. Suddenly, the bell rang and a crowd of students surged forward. After the students had passed, Chris appeared from his hiding place from behind the garbage can with Tala. Miriam and Ozuma were on the ground, the video camera held high above Miriam's head.

"Now that was viscous."

"No respect, damn preps and jocks."

"Excuse me for a second while I load my gun."

Arty walked through the main office quietly, relieved that most of the people who worked in the office were at a faculty and staff meeting. That meant Arty was in luck; she could do what she came to do without getting caught. She poked her head through the door where the school kept the speakers and P.A. System. There was a sheet of announcements that looked so very tempting.

Arty took the announcements sheet and put a different piece of paper there. Then she started fiddling with the microphone. She finally figured out how to unhook it and removed it from the sound system. She put a different microphone in its place.

Suddenly Arty heard someone opening the office door and walking in. Quickly, she flicked the lights off and ran out of the tiny room. Arty ran underneath a desk and sat there, quietly waiting. Peering through a crack, Arty could barely see the person's silhouette. And it was most definitely a guy. The guy flicked the lights on and Arty had to slap a hand over her mouth. She couldn't believe her eyes; there was no way in hell that someone could look that good.

Suddenly Arty felt very self-conscious, and she pulled her skirt down so that more of her thighs were hidden. But when Arty moved, her hand banged into the desk, alerting the guy in the doorway that there was someone else there. His footsteps barely made any noise, so Arty was surprised when there was a face in front of hers.

Here was this extremely hot guy on his hands and knees in front of her and underneath a desk. If that didn't scream 'sex!' Arty didn't know what did. In the light Arty could see that the boy had black hair that was spiked and long in the front, and short in the back. He had shark fin tattoos on his face and was dressed in the school uniform. But he also had a lot of piercing and jewelry. And for Arty, the best thing was that he was wearing eyeliner, and a hell of a lot of it. Arty smiled broadly as she looked at his eye make-up. For some reason Chris had stopped wearing his eyeliner the past week and that upset her. For Arty a major turn on was eyeliner. Luckily, he didn't have any facial piercing.

"Well, never thought I would ever be underneath a desk with you," the boy spoke with a nasty laugh and dangerous smirk.

"W-What's so wrong with being with me?" Arty asked cautiously, observing her surroundings. If it came to it, she would grab the paperweight and throw it at him.

"Well for one thing you brother would have a fit and probably attempt to kill me."

Arty nodded and looked at the floor. "He tends to be a little over protective. But if you would please let me get out, I need to go to class."

"I've never met a Goth that's worried about getting to class." Suddenly the bell rang and the boy looked up at the clock. "Well I guess you should go if you're that worried about missing school."

Kai had to mentally hit himself; he didn't like the way his body was reacting to the girl in front of him. 'Arty, her name is Arty. But she's not just some girl...She's one of Tala's friends.' Kai had been able to deduct that information so far from following Tala around. Arty was Tala's best friend's younger twin sister. If it weren't for the height and gender difference, they would have been identical. They had the same faces and the same body builds, along with the same type of hair. It was just that Arty's hair was a lot longer that Chris's. Hell, they have the same eyes, a gray that was almost silver and seemed to sparkle with mischief and something else he couldn't recognize.

The girl got up and nodded, even though she had a little difficulty squeezing past Kai. She ran out the door, but a thought must have stopped her. "Please don't tell anyone you saw me here. I'll get in trouble again and I already have detention." Arty smiled nervously and the other boy nodded his head slowly. She had obviously done something she wasn't supposed to do.

As the girl ran out the door, Kai took a second to truly look at the girl underneath the mask she wore. His pupils dilated and then became like two thin crescent moons as he invoked his angelic power. Slowly he urged his mind towards the retreating girl like hands from a killer slowly descending. He encountered no mental barriers, or even a feeling of suspicion, as he entered her mind. Her thoughts must have been centered on something else. She was so involved in though that she didn't even notice Kai probing her mind. Kai searched through her memories, sorting them like he was a secretary. One thought stuck out at him in particular and it was one with Tala and Chris in it.

Thought

Chris was walking down the street during the late evening with his hands in his pockets. Arty slowly shuffled her feet through the dead leaves on the sidewalk. The silence between the two was thick, and to Arty, it felt unnatural. They were both out searching for their friend who had left their house four hours ago on a short errand.

Tala was supposed to have been back in less than five minutes. 'He promised.' Arty's thoughts were running around like young children on a sugar high. Tala had just gone out to get a video, what could possibly happen to someone when their destination was less than a block away? Arty shivered, for she didn't want to know about that. She had heard recently that the gangs around the area were growing restless and killing innocent people just to show how tough they were. She just hoped that Tala wasn't in that type of situation.

"W-What if he's dead?" Arty was panicking now and her voice cracked. Chris shook his head. "Tala is too strong to let someone get the better of him. He's strong mentally and physically. You know what he's been through."

Arty stopped walking and looked at her brother through tear filled eyes. "Could he fight off a blood thirsty gang? Could he do that? I think that I believe the most that Tala is incredibly strong. But could anyone stand up to a gang of twenty or thirty people? You know as well as I do that we could stumble over his body, lying in some ditch in some gag…"

"Shut up," Chris demanded as he whirled around and faced her. Arty flinched as his height towered over hers. There was something in Chris's eyes that scared her. She had said too much, but she was too worried not to say anything. It was wrong of her to suggest that he might be dead, even after she knew how sensitive Chris was to people around him dying. Their dad had died in the middle of a gang fight, and he was just as innocent. What made it worse was that Chris had to watch him die as a young child who was just five years old. Arty hadn't been there because she was at a friend's house. "I'm sorry," Arty mumbled.

Her apology fell on deaf ears. "Well, Arty? What if he is dead? Huh? What if our best friend is dead? What if we do come across his rotting corpse? What would you do then?" Chris was angry and he couldn't stop himself. Arty started crying, tears rolling down her cheeks, but she didn't answer. "What if someone didn't kill him, and he killed himself? What would you do then? What if you were the reason he killed himself, with your constant nagging and lack of confidence in him?" Chris moved closer to Arty, his fist shaking in anger. His patience had been running thin lately, and Arty was just the last straw. Chris didn't even wait for an answer. He slapped her hard on the face.

The force of his blow sent her to the ground, her ankle twisting beneath her as she fell off the curb. In her desperation she grabbed for Chris and missed as tears filled her eyes, and she instead grabbed a tree. The bark broke off because it couldn't hold her weight and sent her falling hard on the ground. Her head hit the side of a car.

Chris was still shaking, but he looked on in horror as he saw his younger sister falling in slow motion. Her cheek was red and already starting to bruise. He backed slowly away, tears falling down his cheeks. He had hurt Arty before, but never this badly.

"Chris? Oh my god, what have you done?"

Chris whirled around see a limping Tala, who looked like a bus had run over him. He was like a deer caught in headlights and he couldn't take it. Chris ran, his legs carrying himself far as they could. He kept running even when he was out of sight. Tala rushed forwards towards Arty as fast as he could on his bruised leg. She was lying on the ground, a small pool of blood in back of her head, and she was more dazed than hurt. She shook her head slowly, 'Did I really provoke him that much?' She reached a hand out towards Tala and whispered, "You're alive."

"Why wouldn't I be? I didn't know you had so little faith in me. Arty, you should know I was always a sucker for living." Tala smiled at Arty. "Come on, you should get up so I can see how badly you hurt yourself." Slowly with Tala's help, Arty stood up in a dazed matter.

"I can understand why he hit me. I shouldn't have told him that you might be dead. He's so sensitive when it comes to death." Arty smiled sadly the memory of her father coming into her mind. Tala was quiet and he didn't say anything as he looked over Arty's head and arms. Her left arm was turning a nice red color, with multiple tiny scratches where she ran it along the tree. He foot was swelling, up but only slightly. It might have been broken or just sprained. The back of her head had only a tiny nick, but it just looked bigger because of the blood mingling in with her hair. With a disapproving look, Tala gently touched Arty's cheek underneath the developing bruise. Already it had turned a nice yellow and green shade.

"Come on, I think you should go to the hospital. I think you're fine but I just want them to look over you." Tala spoke quietly; he was still shocked from when he saw Chris hit Arty. The way she grabbed for him and missed, without him even trying to help her really hurt Tala. He knew that the twins had a deep connection, and he just couldn't understand sometimes why they acted the way they did. Someone could mistake them for lovers one second, the next as mutual friends, as then as enemies.

Arty nodded, dull tears slowly falling out of her blotchy eyes and onto her cheek. Tala let her lean on him as they slowly walked towards the hospital.

Reality

Kai smirked absent-mindedly to himself. No matter how much Chris appeared to love Arty, he had definitely hurt her. More than once it seemed, the way Arty kept thinking made him feel like she had been on this touchy subject with her brother before. Something inside him made Kai feel bad when he saw Chris hit his beloved sister. He remembered wincing when Arty's head it the car tire, and then the hubcap. The dull 'thump' made him almost want to puke.

Those feelings stirred unwanted memories in Kai's mind. Memories from when he was younger and he had felt vindicated and upset just like Arty.

Kai's Memory

Humming, Kai was humming a tune. It was a song that he couldn't remember the name of, and he could barely remember the band. The band name had something to do with knots. Slowly Kai leaned back; he was once again in his room being punished. But that wasn't too odd, even when Kai wasn't punished he spent most of his time in his room.

Even when he was away at school, he rarely hung out with anyone. Someone who was lucky enough to even have talked to Kai could claim to be his friend. Kai just wasn't a very sociable person. He remembered when he was younger he had always raised his hand to answer questions in school and participated, but that was when he was naïve and stupid. He was older know and knew what it meant if he got answers wrong, and he thought it was better if he just pretended to be stupid. People expect less of stupid people

When he showed out smart when he was younger, he always paid the price. His teachers and Grandfather would move him up ahead a year or into a more advanced class. So not only did his work get harder, but people started to really dislike him. Students would refuse to partner with him because they claimed he was 'too young'. They would refuse to talk to him and they acted like he was an inferior little child. They treated him like he was nothing and wasn't even deserving of his very own existence.

But what was funny was that Kai didn't care. No matter what they did to him, Kai never retaliated and never had bad feelings for them. In fact, because of the way he acted, people though that there was something wrong with him. Something seriously wrong.

Kai laughed to himself and slowly walked to school. It was late, around dinnertime, but Kai took his time. He had all the time in the world. Even though he eventually knew that he would die. Kai checked his pocket for the items that he knew would be there. Items that he knew would have a drastic effect on a few select people's lives. As Kai rounded the corner, whistling to himself the song he remembered from earlier, the one by the 'knots' people, he slowly found that day by day he was remembering the tune to the song, and that he had started to remember a few of the words. Sometimes late at night he would sing them to himself. Just for the fun of seeing how much of the song he had gained.

Kai let himself in through the double front doors to his high school. Even though he was a year younger than most of the people attending the school, he had actually managed to make a few friends this year. Friends that turned out to not be true at all, people who pretended to want to get to know him. Now was the time, it was time for them to pay. Kai wouldn't let anyone get away with this. He had been walked over and beat up too many times to let people close too his heart and have them betray him. Kai laughed to himself and walked down the almost deserted school hallways. He had arranged to meet his ex-friends one at a time. First was Megan.

Climbing the steps in the back of a closet, Kai found himself at his destination point, the roof. And there before him was Megan. That double crossing bitch. He let the door shut loudly behind him and Megan whirled around to face him.

"I told you, you worthless fag. I don't want to have anything to do with you. I wasn't really your friend, asshole," Megan spoke with a sneer in her voice and her upper lip was raised in a snarl. Megan might have been an attractive girl, if it wasn't for the image she was currently holding. She was playing the part of a cold-hearted bitch, who didn't need friends, and would have sex for money.

"But, Megan, you're the only friend I've ever had. Gay fags don't have too many friends you know." Kai spoke with an insane smirk upon his face and an unnatural glitter in his black eyes. Megan snorted as Kai reached a hand out to her.

"Don't touch me you faggot!" Megan screeched as she slapped his hand away.

"But Megan, I need to show you something."

"What could you possibly have to show me, you mixed up fool?" Megan crossed her arms over her ample chest.

"Megan, I want to show you what it's like to die." Kai was silent after his last statement, and Megan looked a little surprised.

But then she suddenly put that nasty look back on her face, "Nice try ass hole. Like I'll believe that load of shit."

"You should have Megan."

"Should have what?"

"You should have been my friend." Kai pulled a small handgun out of his pocket and fitted a silencer on to the end of the barrel. Megan slowly was backing away with her hands in front of her body.

"Don't shoot me, please! I'll do anything!" Megan pleaded as tears ran down her cheeks, along with all of her make-up.

"It's too late Megan. You should have cared about living before you became who you are." Kai shot her leg and Megan almost screamed out in pain, but she held it in. She was trying to defy what she though the killer wanted. She wouldn't let him hear her scream. Kai's smirk widened and that crazy gleam was back in his eyes; Megan was doing exactly what he wanted her to do. "To tell the truth, Megan, I could care less whether or not a worthless whore like you was my friend. I never liked you. You always made me feel nervous. But it's your fault. You started all this. You made them hurt me. And for that you, will pay, you worthless whore. Die, fucker!" Kai shot her in the heart twice and each time his body shook with the force of the bullets emerging from the barrel. "Tell me what it's like in hell."

Kai turned around without one last final look. He knew the girl would die within seconds if she weren't already burning in hell. And if he got caught, he would join her in hell and make her suffer.

Reality

Suddenly the bell rang, removing him from his thoughts. It was a sharp shrill sound, so annoyingly disgusting that it was all Kai could take to not cover his ears. After being in the place in between heaven and hell, Kai had never heard something so painstakingly annoying. He could hear students walking into school like a herd of stampeding animals. He got up off the floor and dusted himself off a second before the door opened and a middle age woman appeared.

She looked surprised to see Kai there, but than recognized him when he handed her a form telling her he was the new student. She smiled warmly at him. "My, my, isn't that odd. Two new students in the same day." That sparked Kai's curiosity, but he didn't let it show. "I know it's your first day here, so don't be nervous. The teachers are so very nice here, along with the students. Just watch out for the Dowde twins…a good boy like you shouldn't mix yourself in with them." Kai almost rolled his eyes in disgust as the woman tried to reassure him.

"Oh, let me find you a guide." She quickly picked up a phone and paged a student named Brooklyn. Kai could hear the echoes of her announcement from inside the office. "Just wait here a few minutes and he should be with you. He is a little odd with the way he dresses, but he really is a good student." Than the woman looked at Kai for what must have been the first time. "On second thought, I think you two will get along pretty damn well." The woman ground out suddenly not so friendly.

Arty – Finally the end, I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner I though I had more of the story done. In fact in this chapter I almost when entirely off topic with all the flashbacks.

Yaumi – I think you just wrote them because you wanted to take up space and didn't feel like writing about Tala in school.

Arty – Akuma remind me to kill her later.

Akuma – Take a number and get in line.

Arty – Well I know some people asked me for a little more info on Kai and on why he was so, um well Kai-ish. So here you go!

By the way I mentioned two songs in here. The first one I don't own is by KoRn and it's called Faggot. Download it at your own risk and let it be known that there is a hell of a lot of cursing. The second song is a song by Slipknot (where the knots part came from). The song wasn't named but the one Kai was referring too was in called Wait and Bleed. It has a purpose in Kai's Memories. I don't own ether songs. I'm sorry if you didn't like the songs, but this won't be a song fiction. I needed to the songs to promote insanity, an interesting plot line and to make a character question himself. LOL


	5. Découvrir des Ames

A Jamais Tombé

Arty – Man, I'm actually starting this chapter before my next one gets posted! I'm sorry there aren't more chapters out! But I need to reply to reviews!

Yaumi – I love replying to reviews! I love getting reviews.

Akuma – Of course you do. I hate it when Arty really gets on a roll and starts to forget she's just writing a review reply.

Arty – Just shut the fuck up right now.

Note: Rei will be making reappearance.

Review Replies

WhiteSpirit04 – Thank you! But I'm worried Chris and Arty might suck up too much writing. Because I love those two, they're like my babies and they are based off real people.

Kittikatkai – I'm happy you're that eager to read my story! Hugs

Kaiesha – Thanks. I'm working on what will happen to Tala. But I'm so happy that people accept Chris and Arty. I was worried people would think I was trying to make the story more interesting by making them like a side quest. But the truth is they tie in with the plot very well. Because let's say, Kai is a very suspicious person, and that Arty and Chris are doing something odd.

September Whisper – I love you my friend! My first review on the chapter and my best beta! I don't think there is a better beta in the world! Heck you can take as long as you want beta reading my chapters! You do such a great job!

Random Review – I'm very happy I was able to get such a reaction out of you! Ha, yeah I never really did like stories where people were angels, unless there were as far from angelic as you could get.

Destinys Hand – I have cousin's who are twins. One's a boy and one's a girl. They are pretty damn close to being identical, but there are obvious differences in them. There are obvious differences in this chapter too between Arty and Chris. I mentioned them… But thanks anyway, someone else pointed out to me that they were confusing so now I'm hoping to correct that problem. I found out a while ago that I couldn't e-mail you… T.T Oh well. I'll defiantly read your story. It may not be soon but I will defiantly read it. So right now I think I'll shamelessly promote it. Destinys Hand's story rocks my socks! LOL, Slipknot is a good band and the song I used is a really old one of theirs…. It's probably one of their most famous. Shhh! I can't go around giving secrets about the twins! wink

Thanks to all my other reviewers! I'm sorry this is so late in coming! I got addicted to video games. Sad really, I have some sick obsession with video games. I stop eating and sleeping just to play them.

Chapter 4 - Découvrir des Ames (Baring Souls)

Homeroom

Arty sat down in her seat, still in a daze, while Chris was busy taping a few other people the twins considered acquaintances. They made faces at the video recorder and laughed at themselves but then snapped to attention when the static of the morning announcements came on. Grudgingly each student stood up to salute the flag. Then at the end of the pledge, students plopped down loudly into their seats.

Suddenly Arty remembered her real reason for being in the main office that morning. She leaned her head back onto the desk behind her and winked at the video camera and her older brother. Chris smirked at how lucky his brother was to be, viewing this latest achievement of Arty's.

A few more static squawks and the customary, "Is this thing on? One... Two... Three. Oh! Ahem," then Arty almost laughed out loud. The idiot reading the announcements today would read her version, not the real one. He wouldn't even notice the difference.

And suddenly the announcements were quiet. There was no static blaring from the speakers. No crackling of power. No nothing. As far as Arty could tell the microphone she brought worked perfectly. Well that was an oxymoron; a broken microphone without batteries could run at all. But then again that was the purpose of the microphone.

There would be no announcements that morning or for the rest of the day. It would take them a while to find the microphone, which was left under a rarely used office desk. Thank God for the guy who ran into Arty.

Tala ran towards the cafeteria and made it in before the bell rang shrilly. Tala's face was flushed but he was happy. He strode past the teachers who gave him withering glances. What they wouldn't do to give someone detention! That was in fact the question; Tala could remember times when the teachers gave out detention for the stupidest reasons. Someone could be walking down the hallway and shuffling their feet after passing time and they would get detention. It was a miracle in itself that Tala had never gotten detention. And yet the teachers hated him, he got beautiful grades, never got in trouble and never started fights. The only reason Tala could think of for their dislike of him was: they hated everyone, or, they hated whom he hung out with. For example, The Dowde twins. **(By the way Dowde, is pronounced Duh-ow-duh) **

Plopping himself down, he sat in the chair that was his permanent seat. Tala threw his notebooks on the floor, none too lightly. Suddenly Arty stood up in her seat and slammed her fist down onto the table. She must have been mad about something. Then Miriam stood up and slammed her fist on the table. They both glared at each other and Ozuma sat laughing with an extremely annoyed and envious looking Chris next to him. As Tala sat down, Johnny came over and sat down to Tala's left, sinking into his chair tiredly.

"Thank God that Hillary doesn't have lunch with us. I'm going to order a restraining order on that dumb bitch," Johnny grumbled as he let his head fall into his hands. Tala laughed and patted Johnny on the back. "Hey, Tala, do you see the look on Chris's face? I wish I had a camera. Every time I tell him how jealous he looks he always denies it. I need to take a picture of him with that look."

Tala laughed, "You don't know how lucky you are. You see that black bag next to Chris?" Johnny nodded. "Hand it over to me. Quickly!" Johnny slowly inched his hand over towards the black bag. When he was close enough he grabbed onto the strap and slowly dragged it closer to him. In his jealousy, Chris didn't realize that the bag was missing. With a triumphant look on his face Johnny handed Tala the bag.

With careful fingers Tala removed the tiny and expensive video camera out of the bag. If Tala had looked over at Johnny he would have seen him rubbing his hands together like a child on Christmas morning. Tala set up the camera and focused the viewfinder on Chris's face. Then, he slowly moved the camera towards the reason for Chris's jealousy. Tala could hear Arty yelling something about eyeliner and piercings being better than hair and tattoos. He didn't really care, for he was too wrapped up in taping the look on Chris's face. It was one of pure jealousy, although he was trying to hide it pretty damn well. Tala figured Chris had one helluva 'sister complex'.

Getting a sudden idea, Tala stood up and tried to walk quietly behind Chris so he could tape what had annoyed his friend. Unfortunately for Tala he failed to notice who was walking his way.

The jocks in the school were notorious for hating people like Tala. They teased him and his friends constantly. They had always teased Tala even when he was in elementary school. That was before his gang days though. It was the time when Tala's nasty emotional problems had just been starting. He had a bad temper and would get annoyed easily over nothing. He would feel immensely sad one moment and then sickeningly happy the next. Elementary school was labeled in Tala's mind as 'the time when there was just black and white'. After his gang days he realized there was gray too.

During Tala's gang days he really opened up. He was taught to care for the other people in the gang, which were like family to him. That's what King and Queen told him. Everyone would look after Tala liked a beloved younger brother. And they did; they looked after Tala better than his own parents could. Hell, they probably would still be looking after him if it weren't for that boy. Tala didn't know his name but he had a feeling that he owed him his life. Sometimes Tala hated that boy with all his might.

The jocks started picking on him again after he went back to regular school. It seemed they too had managed to graduate the sixth grade…Amazingly though.

Tala might have actually been able to tell someone that for the first time in many days, today might actually stay good. He forgot about Murphy's Law, and most importantly, he failed to see the jocks to the right of him nudging each other in the ribs with their elbows. Poor Tala thought the jocks were incapable of pulling off a prank.

Suddenly icy cold milk was running down the back of Tala's neck. Some dripped along his shoulders and down the front of his shirt. It mostly stayed on the back of the jacket that the school issued all of its male students to wear. The milk mixed with red Jell-O and pizza on the back of the blue jacket. A jock that had dumped the remainder of his lunch on Tala sniggered like an immature child reading about sex. Then like a little child he ran towards his other friends, where in the comfort of numbers, his sniggering turned to full out laughter. His eyes danced with a deranged sparkle and in their own way they seemed to be mocking Tala, challenging him to do something. But they knew as well as Tala did that he would do nothing. If Tala had still been in a gang there would have been hell to pay. Now Tala was nothing more than a has-been, a washed up gang member, now reformed and wearing a school uniform and acting like a mature 17 year-old going on 18. If only the jocks were like Tala.

Luckily, Tala noticed that no one else realized what had taken place behind him, but Johnny was the exception. He wasn't smiling, but his mouth was drawn in a thin line, making his lips almost invisible. There was something in his eyes and the way he was sitting that almost made Tala feel bad for the jocks. He placed a comforting hand on Johnny's shoulder and shook his head no. They didn't deserve Johnny's time. They didn't deserve anyone's time, which was why Tala was happy that no one else saw. He hated it when others stood up for him like he was unable to come to his own defense. And as much as he hated to admit it, Arty and Chris treated him that way.

Something would happen to Tala and they would jump to his defense before he even had a chance to say anything back. It made Tala feel like a user. Even though unbeknownst to them, Tala stood up for them probably more than they would ever do for him. His old gang threatened to hurt his friends and loved ones unless he did numerous illegal things. Things like buying their drugs, stealing alcohol and stealing things from stores. Really, it was only petty thievery but eventually it would amount to something that might cause Tala to be locked up for life. Luckily it hadn't come to that yet.

Tala offered Johnny a small smile, one that showed how he truly felt. He felt haggard and somehow happy. Maybe he was just happy to be alive. He didn't know and he didn't rightly care. There were so many things in the world he couldn't control and only now was he just getting used to them. He walked out of the lunchroom doors and wasn't even stopped by the teachers on lunch duty. Ether they didn't care whether he left or not, didn't notice, or maybe they happened to see what Tala had just gone through. Tala felt like for once luck and God were on his side.

Tala walked down the desolate hallways of his school. Not a soul was in site, which was odd because usually you saw a lot of students walking around when it was not passing time. _I guess because the PA system is off, they usually have to send students down to the office. I like it this way, the halls are more quiet_, Tala though. Suddenly he noticed a boy his age looking around quizzically with headphones in his ears. The boy kept looking at his sheet of paper and then back at the row of lockers. Tala felt sympathetic and decided to help the boy. He walked over to the black haired youth and tapped him on the shoulder. The other boy whirled to face him, his hair swinging around behind his head like a whip. He looked surprised, but then relieved, when he saw it was just Tala.

The boy took his head phones out of his ears and smiled at Tala. "Can I help you?" He spoke in a voice that was higher than most boys. His eyes were a golden hue and as he spoke, Tala could have sworn he caught a glimpse of fangs in the boy's mouth. "I'm Rei." Tala snapped out of his studying and extended his hand.

"I- I'm Tala. Do you need any help? Are you new here?" Tala stuttered a little in the beginning but slowly he regained his composure. Rei had a strange way of unnerving him. It was like he knew something about Tala that Tala didn't know himself. It was odd.

"Am I that obvious? God, I thought the headphones would help. I haven't used headphones in so long." He smiled reassuringly at Tala, as though he sensed that he might be scaring him. "Can you help me find my locker? I'm kinda lost." He handed Tala the sheet when he nodded.

"A little lost? You're on the completely wrong side of the building. But that's where I'm going. I have to change my jacket and shirt…I think." Tala grimaced as he motioned towards his back. "I was going to ask you why there was food… all over you," Rei laughed. He couldn't help himself. He knew Kai had been assigned to watch the boy, but he wondered if Kai even talked to him. _No, probably not_, Rei decided.

Tala motioned Rei and walked on ahead, turning the corner. Rei walked a little faster to keep up.

They had been walking in silence for about a minute, working their way around the empty school halls. Tala could hear Rei's music blaring out of his headphones and he wondered how the boy couldn't be deaf. "What are you listening to?" He finally asked. The song seemed familiar, but Tala never knew the names of songs.

"Here, you listen." Rei handed Tala a headphone and looked a little surprised when Tala started mouthing the words. Then he watched, more interested, as Tala's smiled fell. He handed the headphones back to Rei. "You know that song?" Rei asked.

"Yes and I don't really like it. My friend likes it and I can't understand why. It is such a nasty song. And I don't mean it's nasty because it talks about fags and curses repeatedly. I think it's disgusting because the guy continually puts himself down. Why would someone listen to that?" Tala started rambling on and on. Telling Rei, someone he had just met a minute ago, what exactly the song made him feel.

Rei looked a little confused but then a knowing light shined in his eye. The song obviously brought up memories for Tala. And Rei had a feeling he knew who the memories involved. The song also made Rei think of Kai. Rei liked it because he could relate to the song. He was gay after all. But Rei thought he had Tala all figured out. Ether Tala liked Kai, found out he was strangely attracted to the boy, or hated him. Tala also had major issues with self-esteem; he probably tried to kill himself once. _Hell, doesn't every teenager these days wanna kill themselves? They think they have the crapiest life in the world, when they don't know shit about being fucked up. Just because you got dumped doesn't mean you can become an angst ridden teen_. Rei for some reason though things were a little different when it came to Tala. _Is he like Kai? Does he have that same chemical imbalance?_ Rei could only wonder, but with a shake of his head he turned to Tala.

"I can find it from here on. You should go back and change your shirt. You should have changed before walking me around. Classes will be let out soon, and it would be embarrassing to be caught with food all over your shirt," Rei laughed lightly. His laugh reminded Tala of something. The laugh sounded like an old laugh. No, he wasn't saying that Rei was old, he was just thinking that it sounded like a laugh from when people were forced to act polite and do things against their will.

Tala dimly nodded his head; it seemed he was always lost in thought lately. Slowly, Tala walked away and the hint of red in his cheeks drastically increased when he realized that Rei was right, class was about to be let out.

Kai sat up on the rooftop with a little figure perched on his shoulder. The figure looked like a Gothic Lolita doll, with platinum blond hair and a Gothic Lolita style dress. But what could captivate a person more was whom the little fearie-ish thing was perched on. He wore a normal Japanese school uniform, even though it was freezing out and starting to drizzle. Kai sat still as a statue waited the remaining hours it would take for school to let out. He had been having a weird feeling all morning long that something important would happen to him right after school. Usually when Kai got these feelings he knew someone was going to die.

Sitting up on the school roof made him feel like he was living again. It reminded him of the times when his grandfather forced him to wait for people in steak-outs so that Kai could leap out of the trees and murder someone. It almost made Kai cry every time he even thought about hurting anything. Killing a person had seriously messed up Kai's sense of right and wrong. Right to him was wrong, and wrong to him was right. He would kill anyone that crossed him, leaving them to go on with their puny little lives as they scrambled around for a meager living was just too horrible. Kai had spent many nights thinking over every little thing in the world. Anything that crossed his mind became a topic for an internal debate. Topics reigning from drug taking to illegal fishing could have found a home in his head. He realized the importance of life, but at the same time he realized how pointless it was to live. Like himself, there were some people who were born to die. Kai was doing much better in helping the world now that he had been dead for a few years. His life was less than a second compared to the Earth's. Hell it was even less than the time it took to blink an eye. If someone died, the Earth wouldn't even notice. We were nothing. The dinosaurs maybe took up a minute's time, which is disturbing. Because when you look at the whole picture, dinosaurs were on the Earth for millions and trillions of years. It was ridiculous. It was hardly fathomable. Kai thought things like this up every single night.

He had loved to argue over every single detail with himself. He loved challenging everything people said or did. Only he never did it out loud, it remained in his head. Kai's mind was brilliant but it worked in a different ways than most people's did. He meticulously approached the problem from the bottom and worked his way towards the center. He liked to think of it as a spiral formation.

Kai sat upon the school roof and unintentionally shivered. The rain was freezing and it had started to come down heavier and was drenching his black hair. Kai was shocked for a second. The last time he had black hair was when he died. He had colored it black just to go against his grandfather. When he died he chose to stay in a body that was free of the abrasions that marked his body when he was still living. Now he was back in his regular God-forsaken body.

The same black hair permanently straightened to fall around his face, same tattoos shaped like shark fins making a home on his cheeks. Grey eyes stared out at him as Kai caught his reflection in a puddle next to him. The phoenix tattoo his grandfather had given to him while he was in private school was still on his shoulder. The earrings were still in his ears. All of the holes, the ones he did himself and the ones professionals did. The chains, hoops, balls and industrial piercings were in his ears, turning them into a mass of metal both silver and gold. Kai almost made himself sick when he looked in the mirror everyday when he was living. People would stare at him and whisper things behind his back. They thought he was a bad kid because of all the earrings and tattoos. He was automatically labeled the gothic outcast. He was without friends and people to love him, yet he seemed perfectly fine.

It all made tears come to Kai's eyes, and a couple of the tears leaked out of his eyes and slid down his face. The salt of his tears mixed with the fresh rain, which was still coming down harder. The figure on his shoulder, Manna, looked startled at seeing his tears. Apparently even when they mixed with the rain the second they fell, she still managed to see them. Kai thought it was a personal talent and not one gifted to her whole species. She gently flew up and a strange blue glow surrounded her ethereal body as the raindrops bounced off a reflective shield around her. She whipped away a tear with her tiny hands and suddenly the same blue glow was around Kai. He too was now repelling the water. He smiled at her a sad and tired smile, but it was a true smile and she smiled right back. And the two sat there in comfortable silence. They didn't have to speak to understand each other. They could just enjoy sitting with the other, then they could die happy. Such a carefree friendship could make one's heart truly ache.

The last bell had finally rung and Tala was home free, he had scored, won. It didn't matter, for all he cared about was going home. He remembered that school seemed to go on forever but today seemed like forever and a year. As he walked out of his eighth period class, by far his least favorite, he spotted Chris walking among the crowd. Chris still looked a little put off by what Arty had said in lunch. It made Tala wonder what was really going on in Chris's head. Suddenly Tala didn't have any time to wonder. He was roughly pulled aside by Miriam and had a hoodie thrown in his face.

"Here," was all Miriam had time to get out before the crowd swept her away. Tala could see her waving back towards him as she walked towards the gym for her sport's practice. Tala held the hoodie up in front of himself and looked at it. Luckily, Miriam hadn't tried to give him a girly one again. Even a pretty boy like Tala could get embarrassed walking around in a pink sweatshirt. Instead it was a black with gray writing across the chest reading, 'I believe in angels'. Behind the writing was a bloody angel feather. Pure white in color.

"Where in hell did Miriam get this sweatshirt?" Tala wondered out loud to himself. Usually Miriam handed him plain sweatshirts or ones with band names on them. Tala always managed to forget a jacket even when it was snowing out. After realizing that no matter how sick Tala would get from forgetting it, he would never remember it. So Miriam took it upon herself to every day lend him a jacket or sweatshirt. It had been warm enough this morning to go without one, but now that it was raining, the temperature had most likely dropped. It was only early spring. Then like Miriam, Tala found himself swept away with the crowd.

Once he hit the main entrance doors Tala had to shield his face from the rain that pelted down on him. It blurred his vision and distorted what he saw. But still he was able to make out the figures of his best friend and his friend's twin. Walking up to both of them, they waved at Tala, but it looked a little strained. Still, Tala knew things would get better within minutes between the two.

They all walked on foot because it was too hard for the twins to skate board. Tala slouched down against the wind and quickly his eyes flitted over his friends to make sure they were all right. Chris stood, standing as straight as he could with his silver hair whipping around his face, clutching to his side the two skateboards. Further behind them was Arty's small form moving slowly. She held her brother's backpack, plus her own, and she looked miserable. Tala couldn't tell if it was just because of the fact that she was having trouble walking or because she hated the rain. Tala stopped walking, and so did Chris so Arty could catch up with them. Then they started walking again. They had less than half a block to go. Arty slowly slipped her sweatshirt covered fingers around Chris's arm and walked closer to him and in his shadow, her face was hidden. But Tala smiled to himself, for he knew things would get better between the twins. They always did.

Chris opened the door to their house and held it open for Arty and Tala to trudge through. Tala sighed in relief and dropped his backpack onto the linoleum-tiled floor. His school pants were sopping wet at the bottom and were causing his socks to become damp. Arty removed her boots and they dropped to the floor with a squishing noise. She then cracked her toes. Chris just gave up on putting things down and flopped right on the floor and closed his eyes. He smiled; he was just happy to be home again. Arty took Tala and her own sweatshirt and threw them over the heating vent. They would dry quicker that way. Soon her backpack, and Chris's, joined Tala's on the floor.

"Chris, you had better put those skateboards in our room and get out of that sweatshirt and pants. They're dripping wet. You'll catch cold," Arty started droning onto Chris about doing things. She and Tala walked up to the twins' room. "Yes Mother!" Chris called up after Arty. He finally got up off the ground and took his things off. He wandered into the kitchen leaving a wet trail behind himself. There, taped to the fridge, was a note from their mother.

_Arty & Chris,_

_I have to take the late shift tonight! I won't be home till three. There's dinner in the fridge for Arty to cook and Tala can eat over. Don't forget to write that note to your brother! There is supposed to be a bad storm coming!_

_Love, _

_Mom_

"Fuck," was the only word the silver haired boy spoke when he saw the part about the storm. Chris slid the apple-shaped magnet off the piece of stationary and placed it on the table. Then as he started walking back towards Tala and Arty, he suddenly realized how wet his pants really were. The back of his pants was stuck to his legs and had soaked his socks. His usually messy hair was plastered to his head, most of it hanging in his eyes. His hair had gone from bright silver to dark graphite, darkened by the water. He smiled to himself; some times even he was amazed at his ability to be completely oblivious. He trudged up the stairs and opened his bedroom door. There he was greeted with the lovely sight of Arty bending over and Tala next to her, also bending over.

"Just what I want to see: Arty's and Tala's asses," Chris laughed. Tala swiveled his head around and gave him the middle finger in a good way. "Didn't know you felt that way about me Tala," Chris said with a laugh.

Tala just grinned and played along with his best friend. "Every night I dream of making love to you. Oh Chris!" He started laughing. Chris fell onto the bed and Arty just smiled. "How sweet, gay lovers," she mumbled.

"Here Tala, these should fit you. You might need a belt though, you're too thin," Arty said as she handed Tala a pair of black pajama pants that she had gotten from Chris's drawers. Arty then grabbed another pair of Chris's pajama bottoms and headed into the bathroom to change.

"What Arty, you're not gunna change in front of me anymore?" Chris yelled and Arty's come back was, "You sick little child." Chris turned to look at Tala and realized his friend had already changed and was holding his pants in one hand. "Damn you're quick. Aw, shit. I sat on Arty's bed with my wet pants."

Tala smiled and placed a hand reassuringly on his friend's shoulder. "Well, better get off now. It might dry before she notices it. By the way, what did you mean by 'you're not gunna change in front of me anymore'? It kinda sounded weird."

Chris got up off the bed with a moan and grabbed his pajama bottoms from his upper bunk bed. He always left his pajama's there. "She thought I was sleeping this morning and she started getting dressed. She freaked out when I said something to her." Tala nodded and grabbed one of Arty's pillows. "You shouldn't have been watching her."

Chris sighed and unbuckled his studded belt. "I know. But she's just my sister right? I mean we used to take baths together and sleep in the same bed. I've seen her naked and she's seen me naked." He removed the belt from his pant loops and threw it onto Arty's bed.

"Yeah, but does she let you see her naked now that she's almost eighteen?" Tala asked with a knowing look. "Well, she doesn't let me." Chris answered as his voice began trailing off. "I didn't think so," Tala replied.

Chris laughed, "You must read minds too." He slipped his pants off and threw them at Tala. They landed in his face and then fell to his lap in a wet 'flop'. "Did you have to?" Chris just ignored him and put on his pajamas.

Arty sat on the floor of the TV room. She switched alternately between weather channels and the music channels. So far she had yet to see the weather being forecasted and she had yet to see a music video that didn't involve naked women shaking their asses. She ran a hand through her long silver hair that was halfway between being brushed. She just didn't care enough to finish the rest. She never liked to brush her hair when it was wet. That just added to the individuality that made Arty, well…Arty.

She had been Christened as Artemis Faith Dowde, born just a minute and a half after her older brother, Christopher Hope Dowde. They were embarrassed by their middle names all through elementary school. In middle school they had met Tala Valkov for the first time. He was thin and tiny, with bright red hair that made him look sickeningly pale. His beautiful turquoise eyes had a hard edge about them, and it had taken months before Tala could finally hold up a steady conversation with the twins. There had been rumors going around that Tala was nuts and that he had once been in a gang. Ether the Dowde twins never heard those rumors, or they didn't care about them. Most people would vote on the first selection. Arty managed to be oblivious while paying attention. You could talk to her and she would ignore you, but she managed to repeat word for word what you said. Chris on the other hand was attentive and cared about what others said, yet he couldn't tell you what you said to him. He would never remember. Chris and Arty were similar but also at times exact opposites.

Chris was tall, as where Arty was short. They were both thin in a way that was just short of being anorexic, which was odd because they ate so much. Chris had short silver hair reaching up to about his chin, and almost always it was gelled down. Arty on the other hand and long grayish hair, reaching a little past her behind, and it was usually down but decorated with ponytails. Their bangs were always messy and hanging in their eyes. Both twins had industrial earrings and lip rings. The twins almost always wore pounds of black eyeliner around their eyes. Occasionally they had black nail polish. Arty had little upside-down crosses draw in under her eyelashes. She tended to lean towards Gothic Lolita type outfits, where Chris wore regular gothic outfits. Although if you asked them both they would claim to be run of the mill people, not fitting into any stereotype. And they didn't. Arty and Chris were very hyper, always moving around, touching each other and talking. The bond between the two was just mutual friendship and understanding but it seemed like more. Arty tended to think odd things and occasionally drifted on the verge of anorexia and depression. Chris tended to like self-mutilation. Both could be described as sick individuals. Their thoughts always seemed to involve gore, death and knifes. They had a weird obsession with living life on the edge, both having tried suicide 'because they were curious'. They kept many secrets from their friends yet still managed to act normal. They smoked, and from time to time did drugs, but their friends never knew this. They were in a way the 'kids from the wrong side of the tracks'. They always made jokes that Tala was 'Lady' and the twins were 'Tramp'. They had seen too many Disney movies.

Arty and Chris sometimes acted like they were more than brother and sisters, like they were lovers or best friends. But more accurately put would have been that they were two halves of people, destined to fit together. In a way it was creepy how they acted; most people don't see people like the twins often. The twins were the type of people who would follow you home, and when you confronted them they would just stare at you. Then the next day they would follow you again and somehow know your darkest secret. They could unearth skeletons in God's closet if they ever got the chance. Unearthing secrets in their closets was something they didn't dare do. So many weird things happened to the twins that they just gave up on trying to find answers. They thought life was too short to be spent finding answers to unanswerable things.

They felt that their time on Earth was short, shorter than it was meant to be. They knew something big was coming, and they didn't really want to see it. Whether it is the rise of a Hitler wannabe or the death of their pet cat, they didn't want it to happen. As each day goes by the twins slowly begin to realize something is wrong with Tala and themselves.

Arty – Ta da! We finished this chapter, though I'm a little worried that I got off topic. I'm also a little worried that not as many people are going to be reviewing my story any more. Well if anyone has any suggestions for me…. I'm open.

Yaumi – Arty wants to apologize cause she was sick, or this chapter would have been out sooner.

Akuma – Arty also wishes to say that even though the characters in her story are suicidal, it doesn't mean that it's cool. Think of it this way, suicide is a coward's way out. And our characters are at times cowards. Also, no drug doing! Arty and Chris might do it but they are seriously, mentally disturbed. Kai has a bad past and killed people, but don't kill others because they tricked you. Kai also has a few mental problems. He also has a chronic depression that is caused by chemicals. It causes lack of sleep, which leads up to heavy depression, suicidal thoughts, anorexia, bulimia, murder and just bad thoughts.

Arty – Yeah, watch out cause I used to be an insomniac and they think it was caused by chemical depression. It caused me to think about hurting myself and I guess I become mentally disturbed. I'm worried because now that I'm getting help for it, that I won't be able to finish writing this story like it was meant to be.

Yaumi – Chemical depression is involuntary, Arty's not trying to make Kai's depression come from a bad past. That scenario has been done to often! And a little birdie told us that Chris and Arty were hard characters to understand so we hope this might help. And as for them suddenly appearing, well I hope this helps too. Watch out! Arty's a psycho!

Arty - thwack


	6. Sept Péchés Mortels

A Jamais Tombé

Arty – Well I'm once again starting this chapter before Chapter 5 gets posted…. Sorry but my beta is a little slow.

Yaumi – But we still love her!

Akuma – Do I even have a heart to love her with? Wait… don't answer that question.

Arty – Yeah I have been doing major plot tweaking, but trust me everything adds up in the end. I'm glad you guys really like Arty and Chris. That just makes my day.

This chapter is dedicated to Ladya C. Maxine. Congratulations, you just inspired me on ways to make my story more disturbing, gothic and gory. I take my hat off to you.

And hell while I'm at it, the story that inspired this round of gore was Ladye C. Maxine's _Sinners_. It's a fucking great story, but I won't recommend it to people who get a little gore queasy. But hey, if you're reading my story you can read her story. Good luck to you, iron guts out there.

Chapter 6 - Sept Péchés Mortels - Seven Deadly Sins

Kai finally saw Tala run out of school while yanking a sweatshirt on. Kai couldn't quiet catch the words written on the younger boy's chest but he could see a bloody white blob below the text. A smirk didn't appear on his face but it showed in his eyes. Sitting on top of the school roof made Kai feel like a king. It was most likely the closest he would ever get to royalty too. Anyone could feel like a revered ruler sitting that high above swarming crowds. Unfortunately for this King, he was basically invisible along with Manna, who was sitting on his shoulder. No one in the crowds below would ever think to look up at the roof, as far as they knew there was no way to get on to the roof. And that fact alone made Kai feel like he was smart. But being smart is a lot different than being a murderer. So what if Kai managed to get away with it? Congratulations! Most people don't. But hell, if the cops don't ever get him… the guilt will, right?

Wrong.

Kai was 100 okay with being a deranged serial killer. He would wear the name with pride, unlike others. He just didn't like gore too much or hurting others.

Flash back

Murder #2

Kai cracked his knuckles and put the gun back in his coat pocket where it disappeared in the folds of his clothing. Suddenly more of the song he was starting to remember filled his mind. It was like having ice-cold water dumped on your head in the middle of summer after running five miles. It would have been a nice feeling, but to Kai it just caused the pounding music in his head to play louder. It felt like the singer was personally screaming at him. All Kai could do was smile and pretend everything was okay. If he didn't he would sure as hell get caught. But he wouldn't have time to get caught; he was too busy getting to the scene of his next murder: the boy's locker room.

Kai placed his ear up to the door and he could faintly hear the muffled cursing of his next victim. With just the pads of his fingertips Kai pushed the door open and it made an eerie squeaking noise, like its hinges hadn't been oiled in a long time. Suddenly the cursing stopped and the other boy who was in the room with Kai was silent.

"Who's there?" a wavering voice cried out. Kai ran his tongue along the pointed canine teeth in the sides of his mouth. Already his victim was pissing his pants with worry. He didn't even bother to answer as he walked into the locker room. He moved quietly like an animal stalking his prey. And out of habit his hand went down to his suspiciously heavy coat pocket. Sliding into a nearby shadow cast by a large row of lockers, Kai walked quietly down to the row he knew his friend would be in. He would be waiting for Kai to come and kill him like an animal in a slaughterhouse. Grey eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Kai's friend must have shrugged the squeaking door off as either the wind or his imagination. Kai stood in the shadows and ran a hand along the smooth plastic of the handgun. He felt like a small child holding candy. He was that happy with himself. Just to freak out his victim, Kenny, Kai rapped his knuckles along the metal lockers. He watched Kenny jump in surprise and whirl around in the middle of getting changed. Now Kenny's back was facing Kai. Big mistake. For you see, Kai was never one to let good opportunities get past him.

"Hey Kenny? What rhymes with bag and is a nasty word for a gay?"

Kenny stiffened but didn't turn around. His murderer's voice was echoing throughout the whole locker room, making it impossible to pinpoint the exact origin. It was like a cold chill had passed through the room along with the echoing voice, and Kenny shivered and ran his hands along his naked torso. There was no mistaking it for Kenny, he knew someone else was in the locker room with him and he didn't need his brains or glasses to know that. Unknown to him, Kai pulled out the gun from his pocket and aimed at the point between Kenny's shoulder blades, but then as if on a second thought aimed a little higher. He was now going for the jugular vein. "Well Kenny you haven't answered my question. I though you were supposed to be smart? You do have the highest grades in the school district don't you?"

Kenny nodded and looked up at the ceiling. "Kai, I know that's you, I hope you know I'm sorry I changed your exam… But I couldn't let someone like you beat me. I mean why should a _fag _get the fucking highest score in the school district! Fag does rhyme with bag, doesn't it? And isn't it another word for gay? Huh Kai?" Kenny spoke in a soft all knowing voice. That voice made Kai want to be deaf for the rest of his life. In fact Kai couldn't determine which punishment would be worse for Kenny, slitting his vocal cords or killing him. Both would probably hurt the backstabbing genius equally. But if Kai let the little fucker live he would have to deal with his identity getting known. One murder was bad, but two? He smiled and Kenny started shaking.

"Well, I guess you do have a mind after all, too bad. It's going to be missed." A dark spot formed on the front of Kenny's jeans and he started shaking even harder and he didn't notice his finger nails digging into the skin of his palms. With a wink Kai unleashed three bullets that tore through Kenny's body with horrifying speed and accuracy. The bullets caused Kenny's body to be thrown about like a rag doll. Barely alive Kenny slumped to the floor, unable to speak after having been shot in the throat, his leg hung at an odd angle because of his kneecap having been blown to tiny slivers moments before. He mouthed words that would fall on deaf ears. Even if Kenny had still possessed the ability to talk it would have done him no good. His murderer stood there in a daze staring hopelessly at the ceiling, a disturbing smile on his face. He laughed; the song was defiantly running stronger in his mind. And the odds were against Kai losing the song's words again. For now it was almost complete, only one verse was missing.

End Flashback

Suddenly Kai felt a hand on his leg, but it was too large to belong to Manna. His reflexes kicked in and he moved his hand forward in a blur of speed in an attempt to hit the person's face. Suddenly a searing pain entered his mind and for a few seconds all he could think about was the terrible pain in his hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time remembering how to control myself. It's been so long since I've lived. I should have known better than to surprise you like that." The unknown person's voice came floating into Kai's ears. He knew that voice. But how could he not notice the voice that he had listened to almost nonstop for five years?

"I guess old habits die hard. Yes, Rei?" Kai smiled up at his first true friend and cradled his hurt fist close to his body. It was an automatic attempt at trying to stop the pain from continuing its throbbing journey up his arm. Needless to say, it did nothing to stop the ache. Rei winced, even though the words had been said in a kind way. He took Kai's hand away from his body and held it in front of his golden eyes. Rei studied it with a cold calculating glare and then with out warning, touched the hand and caused Kai to flinch as a bolt of pain rocked his system. He too was not used to living. Kai glared, his eyes like smoldering ashes as the black haired figure just smiled. "It's for your own good Kai. Please don't hit me." Kai cocked an eyebrow, confused at why Rei would say something like that. Then Rei used his long fingernails to slit the skin on the back of Kai's hand and dug his nails in. The burning sensation shot up to Kai's head, slowly forming the beginnings of a massive headache. Kai had no clue what Rei was doing but if he opened his mouth he was sure as hell going to scream. Not only would that be embarrassing, but it would also attract unwanted attention from the thinning crowds below.

Rei's thin fingernails slowly pushed a piece of bone that had snapped off when he had grabbed Kai's fist, back into its rightful place. A sharp intake of breath was heard from the younger boy, but Rei ignored it. Before Kai could begin to use his healing magic the bones needed to be touching. If the slice of bone had been missing, the magical healing would have backfired and killed everyone within a three-block radius. Uncontrolled, the fallen angel's magic would be enough to destroy the whole city. Any fallen angel's magic could. But as of current, the only fallen angels in existence were Rei and Kai. And for a long time it had just been Rei. After a few more seconds of quick surgery Rei pulled his nails out of Kai's hand and let the rain wash the blood off. At some point Kai must have realized that if Rei didn't put his nails in his skin it would have been Kai doing it. Rei always did have the higher standard for gore. He could take much more of it than Kai could.

Kai remembered many times when his grandfather had set him loose on a target and, watching the bullets tear through the body, had made him violently sick. He remembered throwing up right next to the mess that had once been Toshiba's brain. His grandfather had laughed as Kai puked, finding it insanely funny that his serial killer grandson couldn't hold his lunch against gore. Kai shook his head slowly to clear if from the haze of pain as his hand started healing itself. "Kai, did you meet the boy you're watching over?" Rei asked. Rei's fingers twitched as a raindrop hit him on the nose. Cats don't like water.

"Don't worry Kitten, I've met Valcov. Interesting fellow… has a very twisted sense of morals. Cares more about his friends finding out he's being terrorized by his old gang than telling someone about it and getting peace of mind." Kai started going off about the red haired beauty as if saying all of Tala's problems would make up for the one's Kai had.

"All you see is people's faults. He's beautiful and you keep looking at his faults. Kai, you seriously need a life. You tell a person's character by their faults. That can't always work out right. I mean, look at you: a serial killer who gets queasy at the sight of gore." Rei looked slightly angry as he spoke to Kai in an even voice. "You had better keep an eye on Tala though because I heard from someone in the school that the gang is going after him again today." Kai nodded his head, barely listening.

"Rei, if I save Tala's life are you also getting a chance to go where you want to?"

Rei didn't answer for a few minutes. "Kai, I don't want you to fell like my fate is resting on your shoulders. I mean, what should my fate have to do with your succeeding in saving Tala? I'm a useless player in this game. Verchiel is only letting me take part in this to watch me screw you up. I always screw up and he knows it. I screwed up bad enough to get myself killed when I was living. And now I could kill someone else with my stupidity!"

"Rei…"

Rei rubbed his eyes as tears started to form, his heritage coming full force, causing him to look like a cat rubbing its whiskers.

"Rei…" Rei sniffed a little as Kai called his name.

"Yes Kai?"

"Stop taking the whole world on your shoulders. You're only one tiny person. I'm pretty sure that if you suddenly went missing I would be the only one to notice." Kai got up and handed Rei a few tissues. "Stop crying. It makes your eyes red."

Rei smiled and took the tissues from Kai appreciatively. He nodded and watched Kai walk away. Even though what Kai had said to Rei sounded mean and rude, Rei knew enough about his friend to tell that it was Kai's way of saying 'I care about you.' Rei blushed and hugged himself. Right before Kai disappeared down the stairs he turned back and yelled at Rei.

"Sometimes faults make the creature seem even more beautiful."

Rei sat wide-eyed watching Kai walk away and then he nodded to himself. Kai thought Valcov was beautiful too. With one last glimpse of Kai, Rei suddenly shivered. The girl that had been sitting on Kai's shoulder was staring at him and grinning. Her eyes were a malicious red, her nails were long and pointed and she was suddenly a lot paler and grayer looking than before. Her wings also took on a look that made them look dead and decayed. But most disturbing in this sudden change was the grin.

That grin.

Fangs protruded from the sides of her mouth and she sent him a grin that made his blood run cold. There was a crazy look in her eyes as she grinned in a way that made her look of the wrong mind. Rei stared open mouthed and she grinned at him and suddenly disappeared off of Kai's shoulder. Rei was almost certain he would never be able to get that grin out of his head again.

Arty fell asleep sometime after watching music videos with her hair finally brushed. A few hours had past and dinner had come and gone. Tala had left a few minutes ago and Arty was finally waking up. She opened her eyes groggily as Chris poked her cheek.

"Arty, Arty, you have to wake up now," Chris whispered in her ear; close enough so that she could feel his breath. "You need to wake up Arty." He nudged her slightly and she grabbed his hand and held it close to her chest.

"No…"

"No… what? No peas…. No bagels…." It was so much fun annoying Arty. Especially when she was half asleep and had no idea as to what she was saying.

"No waking up…. Dammit."

"You have to wake up, I have to go back to Tala's because he forgot Miriam's sweatshirt. Miriam will freak out if Tala isn't wearing it tomorrow morning. And you know we'll forget to bring it to him, so I'm giving it to him now and you're coming." Chris dragged Arty up into as sitting position and leaned her back against the sofa.

"Give me a second. I need food."

"We'll be back in a few minutes, Arty. And when you come back you can have all the food you want. Now stop acting like a little kid."

Chris pulled his sweatshirt over his head and slipped his feet into his sneakers. Arty was grumbling recipes to certain food dishes she would like to be eating, as she was slowly putting on her sweatshirt. "I'm ready," she grumbled.

"No you're not, your sweatshirt is on backwards, hurry up and fix it. It's getting dark outside and it's still raining." Chris was getting impatient. This whole thing should have taken five minutes and instead it was taking twenty. He ran a hand down his face in frustration and helped Arty get her sweatshirt on the right way.

Arty grabbed Tala's sweatshirt and opened the door, immediately a gust of wind blew into them and Arty grabbed onto Chris's sweatshirt, holding tightly. "It's really nasty out." He mumbled, "I can't believe Tala walked to his house without a sweatshirt on."

"He can be really thick at times, you know that Chris."

Chris nodded; he often wondered why Tala always had a faraway look in his face. It might have had something to do with an event in Tala's past, but so far the twins knew next to nothing about Tala's past. They walked the next few blocks in silence. The rain had let up since that afternoon and was now just a drizzle. "You know, sometimes I wish he would just tell us stuff instead of keeping it to himself. No one knows anything about him from before we met him. It's like he never existed or something."

Arty shrugged, "Hey, we could at least stick by him. Don't say mean things about him when he isn't here to defend himself."

"I wasn't saying anything mean about him. I was just saying how I wished he would tell us more about his past."

"He'll tell us when he's ready. Why don't you understand?" Arty snapped at him and stopped holding on to the back of his sweatshirt. They were more than halfway to Tala's house at that point and fell into a quiet period until the next block.

"You're a real bitch sometimes, you know that Arty?'

"Well at least I don't say things about my friends behind their backs!"

"I wasn't saying anything mean! What don't you understand?" Chris was angry and he whirled around to face Arty. "Stop being so blind and look around you! There's something wrong with Tala. People don't just frickin' appear out of thin air! And how come he always comes to school with bruises? Someone beats him up! I don't know if you noticed Arty, but a lot of other people certainly do. What is wrong with you? Do you just ignore it or can you not see it? Stop being so goddamn blind!"

Arty slowly backed away a look of fear showing in her eyes. She moved back another step and felt something hard behind her. Chris was staring somewhere above her looking, in horror at what she had just walked back into. "Chris..." Arty mumbled.

"I'm not Chris, little girl… Let's get that straight. The name's King and if you move another again, I'll slice the most important vein in your neck." To prove his point, King moved a small pocketknife closer to Arty's neck and let it rest against her skin.

Chris let out a small growl in anger; no one should touch what was his. "Come this way, the both of you, I have some people here I think you would like to meet." King slowly dragged Arty backwards, his gaze never leaving Chris's. Out of a shadow stepped another figure, one that somewhat resembled King. Chris snorted to himself. _Don't tell me their name's Queen._

The person stepped into a small space that was lit by a streetlight and placed their arms on their hips. The perfect image of confidence, it wasn't hard to tell their gender. It was defiantly female; the tight outfit defined her ample breasts, hips and thighs. She looked like something out of a Victoria's Secret magazine. King must have caught Chris looking at Queen. "You like what you see? She's mine. Had her since I was little. A pretty vixen, she is. And if you haven't guessed, her name's Queen." King laughed long and hard after that, obviously overjoyed that he had 'caught' Chris looking at Queen.

"She's nothing but a whore," Chris answered, his gray eyes hardened and looked a darker shade in the lack of light. It was a creepy effect.

King sneered at him and wound an arm around Arty's waist as he slid the pocketknife around her throat, making a shallow indentation. The cut bled a little making, it look as if Arty was wearing ether a string wrapped around her neck or a thin neck choker. Chris's hand flexed and then formed a fist. What he wouldn't give to smash his fist through King's face. "Your little girlfriend will be a whore too, especially when I'm done with her…. Chris." King laughed again his eyes took on a murderous glare. Queen looked slightly hurt that he was giving so much attention to Arty.

"King, we have to go."

"You're right as always, my beautiful Queen." With that King turned slowly and backed away from Chris, forcing the boy to follow him down a side street, away from the public's view. Floating around further down the side street were seven or eight hulking figures. King smiled at Chris and he moved his fingers around Arty's stomach, making intricate designs. One of his fingers left off right underneath Arty's breast and Chris held his breath. _If that fucking asshole lays one finger on what's mine, I'll tear him apart and paint the streets with his blood_. Seeing the look Chris gave him, King figured it was time to finish what he had started. "Signal the boys, Queen."

The girl nodded and held a hand up in the air. Quickly, she flashed a symbol with her pinky finger and thumb and than let out a low whistle. Out of the darkness came the lurking shadows that were revealed to be muscled thugs. Probably the most stupid thugs ever to walk the streets of their city, Chris looked in horror at Arty. There was only one thing thugs were good for, and that was beating the crap out of someone. And beating the crap out of someone usually meant violence, violence of the extreme kind not meant to happen to girls. They would hurt Arty badly and then most likely rape her. Chris squeezed his eyes shut; Arty was his and no one else's. These problems with Tala would have to wait… His baby sister was in trouble.

"What's you name beautiful?" King spoke with a slight purr as he gave Arty a kiss on the cheek.

"A-Arty."

"No need to be afraid, love. Save the fear for after we're done with you," Queen sneered, her exotic face scrunched up making her look a lot like a snarling tiger. A few of the figures behind her laughed evilly and smirked. King moved an eyebrow at Queen; she was acting more bitchy than usual.

"Well what are you waiting for? Someone take this dirty whore off my hands." King smirked and placed a finger to his lips as if in thought "Oh yeah, don't forget to make the boyfriend watch every second of her impending pain." If looks could kill King and every one of his relatives would be dead. Chris was getting annoyed quickly. "Have fun loves." With that King put a hand around Queen's waist and blew a kiss at Arty. "You could both be twins, you know that?" King and Queen were out of sight within a few seconds.

One of the thugs took over. "Hello lovely." He cracked his beefy knuckles and leaned down to look Arty in the face as someone came up from behind her to grab her arms and stopping her from fighting back. Another man grabbed Chris and held him up against the wall, his arms pinned above his head.

"Arty?"

"Yeah Chris?"

"I'm so sorry I woke you up and made you walk here with me. This is all my fault, everything that's going to happen, I'm just so sorry." Chris looked over to Arty and for the first time since she had been captured finally met her eyes, eyes that were void of emotion and were staring down at the floor, looking at nothing, their shade of gray was a light color and almost white. Chris's apology fell on deaf ears.

Rei tied his hair up in a ponytail as he lounged around in the apartment he had been given at the start of the mission. Golden eyes stared up at the ceiling, half closed in boredom. _Who knew living was this boring?_ Rei continued to stare up at the ceiling and out of nowhere he remembered the creature sitting on Kai's shoulder. The one that had looked like a docile cute little fairy and the next second gave the impression of something that just crawled out of a grave. Rei shuttered. Did Kai see what Rei saw in that creature? Did Kai see the eyes? They were enough to cause Rei, a neko-jin, to almost rip out his eyes to avoid seeing hers. She was evil and Rei had a sinking suspicion that Kai didn't know what had happened behind his back.

Rei ran his clawed fingers through a lock of ebony hair. His hair was so long. Nowadays everyone's was short. People in school had been staring at him and his hair. They stared at his eyes too. With all the other freaks in school, they thought he was weird. He had seen weirder people. _For God's sake, the boy Kai's supposed to be looking over has got to have one of the brightest hair colors I have ever seen. If Kai's hair wasn't dyed black it would be two different colors!_ Rei huffed in annoyance and let go of his hair. Slowly, he fell asleep.

_A Fae Pixel flew closer to Rei's sleeping form. It was the little creature from before and behind her, two others. Each one held a blood-dripping weapon. As soon as they flew into a patch of moonlight they transformed to human size._

_The Pixel from earlier looked the same as she had when she was acting innocent, but another step forward and her skin cracked and fell off. For a second she was just a shadow and than all of her skin and features literally appeared before from nothing. She looked evil again. With the claws, fangs and creepy grin… And you can't forget the giant axe she was holding. Her comrades following behind her laughed and cracked their knuckles. They too had changed and looked like the Fae Pixel in front. _

_The second one was also a girl and she stood with a passive look. It barely looked like she was even breathing. Obviously she didn't like to move much, but occasionally her wings would twitch or flutter behind her. She wasn't touching her weapon or making any notice that it was there, but it was a giant crossbow with large spiked arrows. _

_At this size the Fae Pixels liked to walk and stand on the ground. _

_The last Fae Pixel was male and stood hunched over with a malicious grin plastered on his face. The boy laughed again and readjusted his grip on his weapon, a large sword just a little short than him. The weapon was on his back strapped with complicated buckles, buttons, screws, zippers and leather straps. There was blood dripping off the weapon and onto the carpet, leaving a small puddle of the red stuff._

_The first one sneered, "You know too much Precious, but we're here to make that all better." She lifted up her axe with one hand, causing her body to go lopsided. "We'll chop off your limbs one by one and have a grand time listening to your screams." The boy behind her obviously found great joy in that statement when he let go of his weapon and hugged himself. The other girl remained impassive. _

"_Me first! Please Manna?" the boy begged. His eyes were glued to Rei's sleeping figure as he moved closer. _

"_Just leave us something Clause." Clause nodded and pulled the weapon out of its sheath. He was careful that it didn't bang against the walls or ground, lest it wake up their sleeping victim. He lifted the oversize sword above his head and a drop of blood fell of Rei's face._

A drop of blood fell on Rei's face. Rei woke up and almost screamed when he saw the giant weapon coming down on him. Quickly Rei jumped and ran off the couch, the sword missing him by inches as it crashed down on the sofa. Rei was shaking when Clause turned to face him.

That grin, that grin was going to stay in Rei's mind for a long time.

"Well, you're awake. Clause, you were supposed to chop off a limb, not wake him up." Manna looked annoyed but she singled to the girl behind her with a wave of clawed fingers. "No matter, please do the honors Kage."

Kage stepped forward and Rei shivered. She had that gigantic crossbow in her hands, now with an arrow in it and pointed at him. Rei backed up to give himself time to catch the arrow if he had to. "Nighty night, Rei-chan." Kage notched the arrow a little higher and took aim. Clause giggled and rubbed his hands together, his weapon lay forgotten on the floor. Kage blinked and let the crossbow fire.

Rei moved to catch it before it hit his stomach and fell, effectively dodging the oncoming arrow. Another one was fired off and Rei managed to catch that one. Rei heard a third arrow being fired off but he also sensed movement above him, it was that boy Clause. Clause held his weapon over his head and was bringing it down of Rei. Between the oncoming arrow and Clause, Rei would definitely choose the arrow. Rei twisted his lower body and managed to slam Clause in the face with one of his feet, knocking Clause out the window.

The third arrow entered his lower stomach and was deeply embedded. Rei looked down, unfazed at the offending weapon. There were two more giant 'whooshes' and Rei felt an arrow pin his arm to wall behind him and the other one enter his stomach just a little bit higher than the first arrow. Manna chuckled and Rei started to faint and look dizzy. Within a few seconds he blacked out. Clause fluttered into the room, via the window, and looked unscathed except for tiny cuts and a large piece of glass embedded in his neck. "Bitch!" Clause screamed and kicked Rei's unconscious body. Suddenly there was a weight on his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye he saw a large axe resting on his shoulder.

"Behave yourself, Clause. After what he did to you… You should have no right to kick him when he's down," Manna spoke with an icy tone. "Now, you asshole, you can pick him up and we can be going." Rei sensed himself being picked up and carried. He didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't afraid.

_Am I dead?_

Arty – Yes, is Rei dead? What is going to happen to Arty and Chris? And where the hell is Tala?

Akuma – Oh stop you know exactly where they are. Don't play stupid.

Yaumi – She wasn't playing stupid she was trying to heighten the suspense.

Arty – Wow, it's the apocalypse. Yaumi knows what she's talking about.

Well Kai should be getting to the guarding point soon, because the story is finally starting. Kai is noticing his attraction to Tala, no matter how small it is. Rei is also starting to feel lonely and left out, he's in a completely different time where he is a freak to everyone. Tala is getting beat up again and Chris and Arty aren't as stupid as they look. Well at least Chris isn't. Mariam and other people should be coming in again along with Bryan, Ian and Spencer. We can't have a Beyblade Fanfiction without Tyson and Max, can we now?

Hugs and Kisses to my beta, The Wishful Thinker!


	7. Comme atténué en bas Nirvana

A Jamais Tombé

Arty – Well hello! I'm starting this chapter a little later than usual, so it may come out on Fan fiction later than expected. Even though I don't go by a schedule.

Yaumi – So expect it whenever!

Akuma – So she's back to normal, no more deep philosophical phrases for us I guess.

Arty – Easy come easy go.

Review Responses

The Wishful Thinker – My beta I love you! Hugs and kisses! I love discussing ideas for this story with you! You always seem to come up with the right answers, you say the right things at the right time and you think outside the box. I know sometimes it might be hard for you to read what I write (sometimes I'm afraid of what I write) and I understand that. So I think the gore level will only get worse. Sorry!

Opalesent – Don't worry love! You will get what you wanted in this chapter! Have fun reading!

Kaieshakai & Whitespirit04 – You guys are the best hugs and kisses to you! You review on almost every one of my chapters and you always leave a positive review! I can't remember if I ever responded to any of your reviews but let it be known that I'm dedicating this chapter to you two lovely reviewers! I hope you enjoy! I'm sorry; you might not like this chapter though…

Mistress-of-eternal-darkness – Evil faeries can be quite scary, but Fae Pixels can be absolutely horrifying. Or at least I hope so, but keep in mind that the Fae Pixels seem to act very suspicious.

Kuja's Kitticat – Yes, it's defiantly Tala and Kai! I'm happy you like Chris and Arty; sorry about what's happening to them!

Reader – The preview was not beta read, so all errors are my own stupid fault. I never used to read over anything more than once. Now I do it at least ten times. But fear not the beginning chapters are being beta read.

The bitch that won't die – Dear God I swear, when reading your name I thought, "Oh shit here it comes, the worst flaming I've ever had in my life." Luckily it was one of the best reviews I have ever received. I'm so happy my story turned you on to the large and great world of Yaoi.

I have this whole entire plot written down in my mind, if I ever wrote it down it would be too hard to every day keep going back and changing details. Writing things down always messes me up, so I just skip over writing crap down and try to remember it all. Remembering certain things comes easy, like remembering things about science or history, but other things like learning French causes my brain to freak out. If I learn something wrong the first time there is no way for me to go back and change the meaning. I just keep thinking of the first thing I learned about it, be it wrong or right. That's why I can remember certain things while I can't remember others. I can tell you my feelings while reading the first Harry Potter book, but I can't tell you what I did during school today. Most likely in ten years I'll still remember what I felt when reading Harry Potter and won't remember what I did the day before. Such is the life of a person with only long-term memory. I suck ass at listening and quizzes. LOL Anyone in my French class can nod their head to that. So if I mess up minor details, please tell me or I'll never catch myself. I won't be able to remember what I wrote down less than a month ago, but give or take a year or two I'll remember the whole story, start to finish.

Chapter 7 - Comme atténué en bas Nirvana– Like dulled down Nirvana

_She read through the sentence over and over again. This was the sentence that would change her life. Every day she would hope to never see the long white envelope contained inside was the truly damming evidence that would send her into the abyss. _

That was crap. Plain and simple. What Tala just wrote down on the paper for his English assignment was crap. It was nowhere near the level that was expected of him at this age, or of the class he was in. Tala sighed, crumpled up the badly scribbled on paper, and tossed it at the wastebasket. He missed; but hey what the hell else was new? Angrily, Tala ran a hand through his red hair and groaned in frustration when his fingers got snagged in a knot. His hear was so very annoying. He yanked his fingers out of his locks along with a few red hairs and decided to give his writing another sad try.

"_Arty?"_

"_Yeah Chris?"_

"_I'm so sorry I woke you up and made you walk here with me. This is all my fault, everything that's going to happen, I'm just so sorry." Chris looked over to Arty and for the first time since she had been captured finally met his eyes, eyes that were devoid of emotion and were staring down at the floor, looking at nothing, their shade of gray was a light color and almost white. Chris's apology fell on deaf ears._

Tala stared horrified as the words continued to be written on his paper. Sure, his hand was holding the pencil that was writing these words, but they sure as hell weren't his words. He could never write something like that out of the blue. Why was it about Chris and Arty? Before the pencil could write anything else Tala threw it at the wall. _What did it mean, 'deaf ears?' Why the hell would Chris's apology fall on deaf ears?_

Tala's hands shook slightly with fear and his palms felt sweaty as he rubbed them on Chris's pajama pants. He rubbed his eyes in frustration and realized what was written down on the paper would make the perfect story for English. Tala though was still too shaken up to even think about finishing his homework assignment, desperately looked around for anything that would give him a reason to call Arty and Chris. He was getting the feeling: the feeling that someone was going to die. He had learned to listen to his instincts, they were usually right.

Unfortunately nothing in the room could give Tala the inspiration to call the twins. Tala looked around the room and rubbed his arms, as the temperature seemed to have dropped ten degrees in the last three minutes. He looked down at the paper and saw to his surprise that the letters were no longer there. They were gone, as if they had never been written. But that couldn't be true, he wrote those words down. He watched himself write those words down. Tala shoved the paper away and saw that the pencil was right next to his hand. He had thrown that pencil at the wall, and now it was next to him. _It's magic,_ _just like that paper._ Tala shivered, gathered his courage, picked up the pencil and threw it at the wall again, this time hard enough to snap it in half. Tala sighed in relief and his shoulders slumped and his hands hit the floor.

Than Tala felt something hard. His brow furrowed as he picked it up, it was his pencil snapped in half. Tala couldn't help himself, he shrieked. He shrieked like a little girl and dropped the pencil like it was on fire and then jumped up to his feet in time to hear a weird scraping and crunching noise. A shiver ran down his back, like someone had poured ice-cold water over his head. He didn't want to turn around; he knew there was something behind him he didn't want to see. He couldn't help himself though, the temptation was just too great and he felt like the serpent from the Garden of Eden was handing him that apple. He needed to turn around; there was something he needed to see behind him.

Tala turned slowly ready to take that apple. He knew it was something he had to do, and Fate planned it, just like it had planned Adam and Eve's untimely demise. The noise had stopped so Tala turned around slowly, his neck twisting to see over his shoulder. There was no one behind him, nothing out of place, and nothing missing. But there was the writing, the writing on the wall. It must have been gouged in with a knife or some other sharp object, because it was messily written and there were flecks of paint and pieces of plaster everywhere on the floor below it. The message was short and to the point:

'_Find them … You know you want to. Grasp your apple Tala, feed the temptation. The serpent is calling you'. _

Tala's eyes watered and he felt like crying. Those were the exact feelings and thoughts he had felt mere minutes again. Tala walked forward and before he knew it, he was rubbing his hands against the words etched in the wall.

"Go away! Go away! Just leave me alone; I don't want any part in this story, this play on fate! I don't know what you're doing but if you don't fucking stop it I'll…. I'll… I'll kill you!" Tala screamed and pounded his hand against the wall. "Leave me alone! I've been good!" Tala slammed his head against the wall twice and then he fell to the floor with tears in his eyes. The stress of the past few days and now this message were seriously getting to him. Tala ran his fingernails down the wall, taking pieces of paint down with him. The message had been clear and Tala knew what he had to do. Where the message had come from was something entirely different. He sniffed and dried the tears off his cheeks violently with his shirtsleeve.

After a minute or two, Tala regained his composure and with a few quiet sniffles managed to put his shoes on and run out the door, completely forgetting the need for a jacket.

Tala fought with his tears; something big was about to happen if it hadn't already, something involving Arty, Chris, and himself. Tala was getting that feeling, the one he had gotten on the day of his parents' death, and something very, very bad was going to happen. Tala didn't want to see anyone hurt but sometimes life didn't work that way. You couldn't have things the way you wanted them all the time. It was Murphy's Law, anything bad that can happen will happen. Tala had struggled with the heavy burden of his parents' death since he was a little boy, and now that he was almost graduating high school it seemed quite ironic that now, of all times, he was feeling such terrible remorse. He had lost many friends in the short time he had been in that gang with King and Queen. In fact, King and Queen were like his surrogate parents, yet now they were going after him, his blood running through the streets was their deepest desire. Actually, it made sense; Tala had left that cold winter day for no reason. He had just up a disappeared and left all his things back at the tiny apartment. _I must have driven King and Queen nuts trying to find me, and then their worst fears were confirmed when I showed up in a private school._ _I just couldn't live that way anymore. Not after I met Him._ Tala shivered, _Him_ … He was the problem he had started all of this!

Tala's thoughts ran through his head like never before and he found himself running harder than he ever had in his life.

Kai smirked as he watched his young ward run out the door. So his little trick had worked? No matter what, Tala was always going to be a God-fearing man. He would never get over his hatred of God because he took so much from him, but if Tala and Kai were lucky, Kai might be able to help the situation. He shook his head; Tala was just about as predictable as a rabid dog. Once you thought you had him figured out he did something completely out of character. Kai smiled to himself. He remembered when he used to be something like that, though no one really knew him well enough to say he even had a 'character'. Unpredictably, that had been something Kai defiantly was. Not even his victims knew what he was going to do to them.

Murder #3

Kai cracked his knuckles and placed the gun back in his pocket. He left the locker room and Kenny's dead body behind.

Everything was turning out so great. It was all working according to the plan he had thought up when he was listening to that song. That song gave him ideas beyond his wildest dreams, the revenge he had hoped for was coming true and it was all thanks to that song. He would forever be grateful to it. Kai smiled to himself and nodded to a passing teacher. Kai was so happy that he was acting just like a regular student, nothing special or out of the ordinary about him, just a kid probably getting ready for an after-school sport.

There was only a little time left before Kai would get the whole entire song back together, only then would his plan for revenge be complete. But until that fateful moment there was something else Kai needed to complete. His other friend who betrayed him would not be forgotten.

"Just what are we going to do with you Mariah? You never really did learn that beauty is only skin deep," Kai mumbled to himself and thought back to his 'friendship' with Mariah. The pink-haired ditz was only interested in his money and getting in his pants. Kai was surprised he had even been able to keep her away with that conniving mind of hers. When that girl put her mind to it any thing she wanted could be hers, the only thing just beyond the grasp of her manipulative fingers was Kai himself. Kai the loner, the freak, the kid with the money, the boy who sat in the back of the class, or his favorite, the That-Fucking-Faggot-Who's-Queer. Unfortunately for Mariah, she didn't choose to listen to those rumors or she still thought she was attractive to the queer guy. He frowned as he thought of the countless times he had gone over her house and caught her doing something inappropriate, than she would giggle about and laugh off, inviting him to come and join her. Like always Kai would just politely decline.

Kai knew Mariah well though, and considered her one of his friends, so he had started to get used to her weird schedule. Every Friday afternoon Mariah would sit in one of the empty classrooms crying, sobbing her eyes out, because she hated what she had become. He remembered barging in once and caught her digging her nails into her palms screaming, "I'm not a fucking whore! No! I don't want to be this way. Please change me!" After that Kai almost felt sorry for her. Mariah wasn't set in her ways though and she had used a trick on him that most nasty cheerleader girls had up their sleeves, the use-them-and-dump-them trick. But Kai wasn't ready to be used and dumped, Kai was not any other asshole, he was someone. He was Kai-fucking-Hiwitari and if that didn't account for anything he didn't know what did. He was the youngest member of the richest family in Russia; he lived with his grandfather in an old Victorian Mansion on the outskirts of a city on the bay. His grandfather by far was one of the most imposing Hiwitari's to live, Kai coming in as the most disturbing and morbid family member. Kai also seemed to have the strongest immune system in a family of weaklings.

Thus, all were good reasons as to why the black-haired boy wouldn't take what Mariah did. He would make her pay, pay with her life. He knew where to find her, now it was only a matter of killing her. Kai leaned against the English room door and smiled to himself as he stared at locker, funny he had never found locker number one. He faintly heard sobbing through the thick wooden door and he knew that his next victim was inside, exactly where she was every Friday afternoon. Kai opened the door silently and walked in. Mariah lifted a tear stained face to stare at him.

"Kai?" She all but whispered. All the yelling must have done away with her voice.

"Yeah."

"Why are you here? I don't need you … And I wasn't crying."

Kai smirked and said nothing. He just bent down and wrapped his arms around Mariah's shoulders. He felt the girl stiffen and than relax in his embrace. Kai smirked over her shoulder as he felt her arms tighten around his torso. _Mariah, you think I would do this for you? _Mariah sniffed, "I'm so sorry Kai, I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself for what I did to you. It's too horrifying. All the beatings they put you through, I'm so sorry I told people your secret. Please forgive me?"

Kai broke from Mariah's hold and stepped back a few feet so he was at the head of the classroom. Mariah sniffed again and rubbed her eyes hard, her cheeks almost as pink as her hair. They stood in silence for a few minutes.

"Do you know where people like me and you go?"

"W-w-what do you m-mean?"

"After we die where do you think we'll go? More importantly: where do you think you'll go?"

Mariah shrugged her shoulder to his question, "Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but so few people make it there. We all have a little bit of evil in us. But I hope one day I'll be forgiven and God will let me into the Kingdom of Heaven." Mariah's voice cracked.

"That was touching, but now you need to know the truth. God doesn't exist, Mariah, but if he does in your sad little world you better hope he forgives you in the next five minutes."

"W-why the next f-f-five minutes?"

"That's how long you have left to live."

She gasped and Kai quickly moved forward and grabbed Mariah's hair and yanked her off the chair, dragging her to the front of the classroom. "Unfortunately for you Mariah, you're too predictable for your own good. Who else would have known you would be in here crying your eyes out, but me? Face it, I was the only one you trusted, and I'm still the only one." Mariah sniffed and cried, hot tears racing down her cheeks. Kai took the gun out of his pocket with his free hand and aimed it right between her eyes.

"You said I had five minutes."

"I lied."

Kai pulled the trigger.

Kai shook off the long passed memory and walked out the door. He needed to get to the twins before Tala did. Tala would be arriving at the horrific scene in a few minutes, so Kai only had one choice. Cracking and snapping noises ripped apart the silence as a gut wrenching sound was heard and a pair of wings unfurled themselves from Kai's back, ruining his shirt and severing it into two pieces. His wings had some kinks in them from being furled up for so long; that meant Kai would have a harder time than usual with flying. He wouldn't have to fly too high, though. The fact was, that in a dirty city like this, no one looked any higher than their feet. It was a nasty unforgiving world in a city by the bay.

Besides, it was so cloudy and foggy out that night that people would be lucky if they saw an inch in front of their faces. He soared a few feet above the apartment buildings, coming into a slow descent when he saw two familiar bodies lying in a dirty alleyway. Here, Tala would actually realize the extent of the danger in his life for the first time. Why all things had to happen negatively in life was beyond Kai's comprehension.

Kai circled lazily and allowed his feet to touch the ground softy as he walked towards the bodies of the twins; the two had been beaten and raped in front of each other. And if that wasn't enough, they were going to have to die. Kai could see no way around it, as long as the twins were there Kai's job would become increasingly harder. With out without his help the twin's would die. Tala would go after the killers and just get himself into more trouble. They might have been Tala's best friends but they were too unholy to be near him. Lust after all was one of the seven deadly sins. Tala was like an angel or the pure white of the first snowfall. He was not to be tainted.

Chris moved his hand over to Arty's clutching it tightly. "Hey, Arty." Chris mumbled, his neck was still sore from where he had been choked; in fact his throat was littered with colors ranging from black to green. Arty didn't move but kept staring straight in front of her. The girl's pants and underwear were around her ankles and there was blood around her as well. "I know this is a stupid question to ask, but are you OK?" Arty actually showed a reaction as she turned her head towards Chris and smiled. The smile was lifeless.

"I'll live if that's what you mean."

Chris smiled back; Arty wasn't going to let the situation get to her. "Not to be negative or anything, but you've got one helluva cut on your stomach." Arty glanced down at her stomach at the comment; she just smiled more. Chris dragged himself closer to his sister and leaned over her stomach, "There's a good bit of blood. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."

Kai stepped forward quietly. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Arty frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I can't let you leave this place, it's not safe. You're just making things worse by living, so just die already, would you?"

Chris turned towards Kai, his silver hair matted down to his forehead with blood, "Who the fuck do you think you are?" Kai smirked, he was falling into his role of protector with ease, and he felt a weird urge to kill anyone too close to Tala. _I guess someone like Tala isn't that hard to like._

"I'll give you a few minutes to say good bye to each other, but you'll have to make it quick. Chris, she's in a lot of pain. All the blood around you is hers." Chris looked around at Kai's remark. There _was_ a lot of blood. It was everywhere on the walls, on the ground, the garbage cans, on him and on Arty. In fact most of it was on Arty and most of it was around Arty. With a sense of dread Chris lifted up her shirt and saw multiple stab wounds, most of which he could see through. Chris slowly moved his head to look at Arty. How could she have not told him about this? Arty smiled guiltily at the unasked question. Chris looked down at his own body and realized that he too was covered in stab wounds that he couldn't feel.

"Why can't I feel the pain?"

"You're too far gone."

"What do you mean?"

"It'll be ending soon, don't worry."

"OK …"

Chris realized he must be really far-gone to agree to the freakish teen in front of him. The other boy look like he was from Hell. But Chris didn't care. In fact, he felt at peace. Everything for once was going to be all right. And that that was a big change of pace for him, heck Arty looked calm too. Normally she would freak out if she saw her own blood, now she was doing nothing about it. Maybe she realized how truly fruitless their situation was.

Arty turned and smiled at the two boys. "I love you, 'kay Chris?" Chris smiled back and squeezed Arty's hand. He let his head drop onto her chest. Everything would be all right.

"I'm sorry. If I hadn't made you come you wouldn't be here in this situation. We wouldn't be dying. You would be at home sleeping and I would be by your side waiting for you to wake up. I would most likely fall asleep next to you and Mom would come home and pull a blanket over us." Chris was crying and he brought a bloody and dirty hand up to his face, trying to rub away the tears but only succeeding in making himself dirtier. Arty sighed softly at his misfortune and used her hand to wipe away some of the dirt, her hands being cleaner than his. They always had been, she was like the innocent twin and Chris was the evil one. "Then in the morning we would go outside and go to school with Tala. Just like we always do." She touched his face again as she finished his dream of them.

Arty smiled weakly for she was getting oh so very pale and her body was trembling violently. Even if her body healed, the emotional scars wouldn't. "Hey, Chris, look at me." Slowly Chris moved his silver eyes to meet Arty's near identical ones. "It's not your fault, it never was your fault. Don't blame yourself, you can't cheat Fate. Everyone learns that sooner or later. I just wish we could die peacefully in our old age and have time to look at how far our lives have come. But remember we're doing this for Tala, whoever and whatever that guy is; he's trying to protect Tala. Us being here will be making it worse. I don't really understand it, but Tala would be heart broken if we died at the hands of his old gang. We were use as leverage you know. Besides, it finally feels like that for once things are going to be OK. For once we won't have to worry about the consequences." Chris sobbed and nodded his head. All along Arty had known more about the situation than he did, before King's cronies told them Arty had known about Tala's past. It would be heartbreaking for Tala to know his gang had done this to his best friends. It was better for him to think it wasn't a member of his gang that did the damage to them. Death would come too soon and there was something he needed to get off his chest.

"Arty, I love you."

"I love you too, Chris."

"No! No! You don't get it! I love you more than I should! I love you more than any brother should. I love you and want you so bad that every time I look at you I want to shoot myself right between the eyes. I don't want you to ever hate me or look at me with hate. I never told you before, but I love you so much Arty. Please don't hate me." Chris sniffed and braced himself expecting Arty to be disgusted with him. He was unnatural and disgusting. He lusted for his own twin sister. Lust was one of the seven cardinal sins. Chris shook his head; he knew it was too soon to tell her. Tala had warned him to be careful and not to scare Arty away. Tala had also said that Arty loved Chris back, he was sure of it.

Arty was quiet for a few seconds and than she remembered their time was limited and that there was a person lurking in the shadows biding his time till he could kill them. "I love you too." Arty lifted her bloody and bruised hands to run down Chris's face. He leaned in to the touch and her fingers ran over his eyelids, leaving a trail of her blood. Chris leaned up and kissed Arty. She wasn't going to run away or hate him, she loved him back, and it was almost too much for Chris's poor brain to handle and he felt a surge of happiness. To him it was like a dulled down Nirvana. Oh god, did it feel good. Everything was coming together and Chris started crying leaving clean streaks in the dirt and grime caked to his face. Kai shifted in the shadows.

"I'm sorry but it's time."

"OK, we understand."

"Yet so few do."

Chris kissed Arty again, "We'll be together forever. So don't get tired of me too quickly." Arty smiled. She understood. No one in society would accept their love, but in death they could love each other without problems. Or at least they thought. Kai shook his head, _But how wrong they are in thinking God will save them. Rei had thought the same thing, look at him now. He's watching over me hoping I don't screw up his chances in the afterlife._

"We're ready." Kai nodded. Their time had come. Kai would kill them in cold blood, although technically they were already on borrowed time, living only off of pure will. Arty coughed violently spitting up blood, just to prove Kai's point. They'd be dead soon. Kai couldn't leave them here to die painfully, even that was too inhuman for him.

Chris pushed himself off of Arty and settled down next to her, their hands still tightly clasped. "Take Arty first please, she's in worse pain than I am." Kai nodded, he would have taken the girl first anyway. She would have been the easiest. Arty sat up slowly, sitting on her knees; she was going to look her killer straight in the eyes. She wanted to know who would be the savior of Tala, and the stealer of her life. She smiled as she saw the boy; she had seen him before at school. Ran into him while crawling around under desks. Chris let go of Arty's hand and Kai moved his and touched Arty's forehead. With just a little effort he summoned power into his hand, and it glowed white for a few seconds. Then the power built up and Arty was thrown backwards as Kai released it from his hand. It was a painless death, numbing her mind as he snapped her neck.

"Arty …" Chris sobbed. He knew it had to happen but her death was horrifying. She stared back at him with open gray eyes, her mouth set in a permanent smile and her head tilted at an unnatural angle. Chris turned back to Kai, and realized that now he was on his knees right in front of the killer. And suddenly for the first time a bolt of fear overcame and him and his was suddenly soaked in cold sweat. This was it, this was the moment he would die and finally become rid of these world and all it damn problems. As those cold-chilling eyes rested upon his bleeding frame Chris had one last thought:

_Where do people like us go?_

There was a flash of bright light and Chris felt a hand grip his face. Then, there was eternal darkness.

Tala fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath. He was almost halfway to the twins' house and he had sprinted the whole way. Not being as healthy as he should be had defiantly slowed him down. He was huffing and puffing after running two blocks. And frankly for someone with his family's history you could expect better. His family was made up of born athletes, with the exception of him though. Tala grunted and picked himself up off his knees. He realized he wasn't perfect but there was nothing he could do about it. Right now he needed to get to his friends, one of the few emotional supports he had.

Tala started running again and looked down an alleyway. He wanted to run past there, he didn't want to look in, and with every empty alley Tala ran faster, his stomach filled with dread. In cities like this, you could expect any type of crime to happen anywhere, from rape to fraud. This alley, this one felt different as if there was some kind of supernatural power residing inside it, it was like a sleeping giant. Tala shivered as a raindrop hit the tip of his nose. It was only lightly drizzling though. Suddenly there was a flash of white light from deep inside the alleyway and Tala was drawn in. This was it, this was the alleyway he didn't want to be in but would go down anyway. Such was the fate of one of God's decisions. Tala turned and ran down the now darkened alley, then stopped short at what he saw.

There in front of him was Chris on his knees in front of a winged boy. The boy touched Chris's forehead and for a second there was a flash of white light and than Chris's limp body was thrown back into Arty's. The lifeless eyes were staring at each other. Tala stepped forward.

_No!_

_This wasn't how it was supposed to be!_

_What happened to them?_

Tala's thoughts raced a mile a minute and he found his body moving on its own towards Chris and Arty. Shyly Tala reached down and brushed his fingers down Chris's face. He yanked his hand back; it was cold, freezing cold in a ridiculous way. But Tala refused to accept the inevitable. He reached down and touched Chris's neck, forcing his hand to touch the freezing flesh.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Hold your hand too close to those killed by the damned and you might catch your death of cold." Kai suddenly was standing next to Tala; he was completely uninterested in the bodies before him.

"They're dead."

"I killed them for you."

"I don't understand."

"Not many do."

Tala sniffed and didn't even bother to catch the tears running down his face; instead he turned towards Kai in a creepy way. A way most sane people couldn't move in. Kai looked over at the red headed boy and saw the tears that fell from his dull marine eyes. They were beautiful eyes, eyes that Kai could stare into forever. Kai shook his head, annoyed that that idea had slipped through his defenses. "You," Kai snapped to attention when he heard the younger boy speak. "You! It was you!" Tala pointed a hand at Kai. It was thrown into a spasm and Tala's whole body shook with his anger. "You did this! You did everything! You! You are ruining everything! You … My friends! My friends! Chris, Arty!" Tala was screaming but he didn't care now. Kai made no move to stop the yelling boy, his hair hiding his expression.

"I'll kill you."

Kai gazed sadly at the boy. He didn't understand his friends were better off dead.

"I'll gut you with a razor and hand-feed you your innards as if you were a child."

The threat didn't faze Kai. "Your friends are better off." Kai was a little weary of the boy he was getting very violent.

"No! T-they wouldn't leave me …" Tala's eyes were red and tears leaked out of them. They were his friends and always would be. He could remember them and their antics no matter what. They were one of the only bright things in his life. They were the light at the end of his dark life. Always there for him. Now they were gone.

_Tala! Come one you lazy bum, we're late for school! Yo, Tala, hurry the fuck up! Tala, come over our house! Yeah our mom isn't home! Miriam what's up babe! Hey Miriam. Hey Chris you loser don't touch my ass! You don't have an ass to touch. Tala! Tala! Tala! Tala! Faggot! Ha ha!_

Tala screamed, for it was too much to handle. His friends were gone and never to return, but sadly their memories would always be with him. He turned around and blindly fled. Not even did he bother to think twice about the creature he had left behind. He was leaving; he wasn't going to stay in this place any longer. There was too much death, too much for comfort. Tala ran, ran as far as his legs could take him and even further. Every time his body gave out on him and he had to stop running his conscious whispered cunning little phrases of deceit and sorrow.

"_Run faster Tala. Get away from it! Don't stay too long! Catch your Death of Cold … Ha ha ha! Come on Love, run harder. That's it. Run from the monster playing with your soul. Run till your body gives out from exhaustion and you can't move a step further. Let your body die of hunger and a broken heart. Besides, you have nothing else to live for."_

Tala, ever innocent, listened to the lies being fed into his head that night and ran, ran for all he was worth. He ran towards the spot of his last stand. A spot hauntingly familiar also filled with death, horror and paranoia.

"No matter how far you run Tala, I'll always be behind you. Always. You can't get away from me. I am the shadow. I live to protect you. I won't let any harm come of you. I'll watch your every movement like a predator stalking its prey, and I'll relish every second of it. I'll follow you to the fucking ends of the earth. Just don't lead me where I can't go."

"…"

"Tala, I think I'm falling in love you."

Arty – I can't believe I just killed off my Arty and Chris. Oh well, sorry to the people that liked them! But thanks so much for sticking with me. Now the story is finally heating up and

Tala and Kai are realizing the hell surrounding them. It's going to get interesting here folks.

Yaumi – Good-bye Arty and Chris! You're in a better place! We hope.

Akuma – I'm gunna regret this but, even I have to say it, Sayonara.

Arty – _sniff _Sad as it is, I got upset really upset because I was listening to this song by Fall Out Boy and it was called _Sugar We're Going Down_. The second they said 'going down swinging' I typed in the sentence about Arty giving up and dying I almost drowned in the irony. Too bad they had a lame ass death huh? Really I mean I gave Kai a great death, but Arty and Chris just gave up without even blinking, oh well they were too far gone. Notice how at the end of every death scene there is that little thought, '_Where do people like me go?_' That's because every single one of the characters goes against the Ten Commandments and the word of God. The main point is to prove no one's perfect.

..Rest in Peace Arty and Chris.. 

FYI – The way Kai is talking is how Mr. Brink talks in the play _On Borrowed Time_. Because almost every time Kai says something it either has a double meaning or it's words of advice. Mr. Brink tends to talk like Kai and right now I'm getting the weirdest sense of déjà vu.


	8. S'il vous plaît l'épargner

A Jamais Tombé

Arty - Wow, the amount of reviews I'm getting is killing me. No, not literally. But I have to say I am surprised and happy that more and more people are reading my story and that people like my story so much. You should have seen my face when I saw my name next to two of my favorite Beyblade authoress in someone's favorite list. The tears poured outta my eyes!

Yaumi - And than Arty's mother came in and asked her if she was losing it.

Akuma - Trust me on this Yaumi, she lost it a very long time ago.

Arty – Don't make me smile when you die.

Review Responses

A little birdie told me I wasn't aloud to respond to reviews in the story, so anyone who wants a reply leave a way for me to contact you in your message. Or you can just contact me at FearlessDranzer on AIM and my e-mail is I love hearing feedback so don't hesitate to tell me something, good or bad! At the end of the story I'll write like a message to everyone who reviewed!

Chapter 8 - S'il vous plaît l'épargner - Please save him

Rei's breathing was heavy and his head hurt worse than anything he had ever felt. Rei was finally waking up from passing out from pain and blood loss. He was still groggy and the nauseating scent in the air made him want to scream until he suffocated. Rei moaned and cradled his head in his hands, refusing to open his eyes and to believe he had been captured. Rei took in a deep breath to calm himself and unwittingly sucked in a lungful of the sickly sweet scent hanging over everything. Rei gasped and puked up what little he had managed to eat prior to his capture.

With one final retching noise Rei opened his eyes for the first time since he had come to. He was in a dank black room that even with his superior vision still managed to remain shrouded in a veil of darkness. His eyes started to swim and the weird scent in the room made his eyes tear and his nose to burn. Making a soft moaning noise at the scent he covered his nose in an attempt to get rid of the smell of vomit and something he couldn't place. Amazingly for the first time he realized that he was completely healed and that the arrow holes were completely healed and the skin wasn't the slightest bit pink. Even for someone like Rei this was a hard feat to accomplish so quickly, he just figured that those three creatures had something to do with his healing. Getting up, Rei decided he had to try to escape before his captors realize he was awake he had the element of surprise on his side and he wasn't about to give it up. He moved his hands slowly around him and stood up searching for a wall. His feet moved backwards carefully and Rei's hand touched a moist moss covered wall.

He shivered at the gross feeling and tried to find a corner in the room by following the wall he had found. Suddenly Rei's foot touched something on the floor and with a soft scream he fell onto what ever tripped him. Something jabbed into Rei's face and ignoring his idea to stay undetected, he screamed as what ever he had fallen upon tore his face open. When the ripping noise stopped, Rei gingerly touched his face where the pain had exploded. There was a long scratch underneath his left eye that stung upon contact with his hand. He hissed through his teeth, sounding like a cat cornered by dogs. It was bleeding heavily but it wasn't that deep and hadn't reached the bone so it would heal fairly quickly with his unique genetics. He wouldn't even have to use his angel magic. Rei ran a hand along what he tripped over; fingertips softly touched what seemed to be skin and hair. Weird feeling skin and hair … it wasn't human. Rei reared back and tried to get up and run away. He was sitting on the dead body of a neko-jin. It was another person from his supposedly long extinct breed. Rei couldn't resist the urge to scream, it was growing and consuming him, starting in his stomach and forcing its way up his throat and using his vocal cords without his consent.

The scream ripped through his throat cutting it up as he screamed himself hoarse. Tears clouded his vision and he screamed harder. Life was getting too complicated. His breed was still alive and he had realized it in the worst way, by tripping over a recently killed body of his clans' member. All neko-jin were related and came from the same village high in the mountains of China, far away from civilization. He may have known this person. It could have been his neighbor for Christ sake! He bit his tongue hard and it started to bleed. Rei screamed again feeling the blood froth and foam as it fell from his mouth.

Manna smirked, it seemed their guest was awake and had found the surprise they had left for him. Clause threw his head back and laughing or screamed, it was hard to tell. But the manic look in his eye spoke for itself. Kage stayed the same as if nothing happened; she stood quietly and resolved herself for the next murder she and her friends would commit. Clause fell to the floor and moved his arms and legs as if to make a snow angel in the marble floor.

Tala walked past a store selling exotic lingerie and ignored the catcalls of men and women as they saw him. His legs had given out long ago forcing him to walk the disgusting slums of his town, he was walking through the gang infested wharfs and side streets right into the heart of King's and Queen's Territory. Throughout the years the area that King and Queen ruled over was giving many names but none stuck as well as The Kingdom. It was only fitting for King and Queen to rule a kingdom.

Every step Tala took sent him further and further away from the point of no return. This was going to be the very last time Tala stepped foot into these streets as a free man. The next time he walked these streets, hopefully it would be back with his old friends by his side. His old friends, they were the ones who knew everything about him.

But maybe they didn't know everything. They didn't know about the mysterious boy that had saved him from being in a gang and they didn't know that there was another boy killing his friends. Tala looked down as he thought of Arty and Chris, but than he looked up with a sad smile. They would be happy so long as they were together and that's all that Tala could wish for. He just hoped that in the end he would end up in the same place they did. But as the evening went on Tala got the sinking suspicion that he wasn't going to the same place the twins were, he wasn't good enough to follow them.

After all, how could someone like him make it through the gates of heaven? Tala's eyes felt dry because of all the crying he had done, and as badly as he wanted to cry not a single tear dropped. He had cried for too long and finally someone was saying 'Stop!' Maybe, just maybe something was going to happen that was good for a change. And finally he might find a place in society were people like him were accepted. And for a change, he might actually be able to sleep through the night without waking up repeatedly to make sure there wasn't a dark figure standing over his bed. Making sure the figure wasn't one of his foster parents from all those years back coming to get him, Tala shivered as he thought back to one of his more violent 'guardians'.

Breaking away from his memories Tala stepped towards the street that would eventually turn to a side street where on the third door to the left would be his old home and hunting grounds.

Stepping up to the door Tala knocked without a second giving him time to think of the consequences. A few seconds later there was muffled thumping and the sliding peer hole was opened.

"Password?" a deep voice called out. All Tala could see of the person was silver eyes.

Tala took a deep breath and tried to sound like he was sure of himself. "Get me King and Queen, now." He was screwed he didn't know the password. He would just have to hope the guard recognized him.

The eyes swirled and it seemed like the person was thinking something. "Why should I do that Punk?"

Tala's eyes narrowed. "Because if you don't your gunna have one helluva angry red-head on your hands." He was going to have to act tough and forceful even though he felt like crying.

Warily the eyes looked around for anyone who might be hiding ready to ambush the hid out when he opened the door. But than thinking to himself the person decided that whoever was on the other side of the door knew where their hid out was so they had to be some part of the gang. They might even know King or Queen. And with as a sudden afterthought the boy wondered, _they might be an old member of the gang_. Throwing all caution to the wind the boy decided to obey the redhead. If he was wrong in his decision he was screwed.

He turned around and talked to someone Tala couldn't see. "Get King and Queen and tell them it's important, a red-head is here tell them." There was muffled cursing from the other side but eventually Tala heard the sound of a person getting up and walking into the inner maze of the abandoned building.

Tala didn't have to stand long maybe, a minute or so before the call came for him to be lead into the foyer. The foyer, that was the room King had done all his business back when Tala was in the gang. And even then Tala had sat in on meetings that people who had been in the gang all their life had never been able to. Tala remembered feeling happy than, like he was useful and somebody important. But for the last few days he was with King and Queen he felt like the world was spinning to fast for him to keep up with and he thought about leaving the gang, but it had never actually taken place till that mysterious boy had told him to leave them. _I wonder if that boy is still alive and if we were ever to meet, would he recognize me?_

Suddenly Tala felt himself being forcefully pushed into the seat by a boy much larger than him with purple hair and silver eyes. _I know him! _Tala's mind screamed at him with all his might that he knew who the silver-eyed teen was.

"Bryan."

His words came out in a breathless whisper that Tala was certain Bryan hadn't caught.

The other boy stared trying to look bored but the surprise was evident in his eyes. He was defiantly the Bryan Tala had known all those years ago, the boy that had protected him from the older bigger gang members. In fact the teen was probably no longer a teen by now he was probably an… adult. Suddenly Tala felt immensely sad, they had grown up with out him.

Queen was a beautiful young woman fully deserving of her exotic name. Her short black hair framed her face making it look like she had eternally been in her early twenties. King, in his own right was also beautiful. He looked like he was from some far off country that Tala had always dreamed of. A country where everyone was beautiful, it was where no one was ugly. Now even Bryan had left him behind for the sands of time. He too was probably in his early twenties and he stood taller than Tala with a slightly muscular build. His face was frozen in a frown but occasionally Tala had found a way to make him smile.

Thinking about Bryan made Tala think about his other friends. _Where is Ian right now? And Spencer? Brooklyn and Hitoshi? Max and Tyson? Is everyone still here?_

Suddenly the door was burst open and Queen came in running with King walking slowly behind her. But Tala knew, inside King was running towards him faster than Queen could ever run in her life. He was positively overjoyed to see the younger boy.

Queen latched onto Tala wrapping her pale arms around his neck as she threw herself onto his lap; giving Tala a good idea of how much certain _aspects _of Queen's body had grown. Tala tried to say something but it came out in an incoherent mumble. When Tala felt he would suffocate Queen was suddenly pulled off him by King. Tala placed a hand around his throat massaging it gently were Queen's nails had dug in. King smiled knowingly while Queen pouted at being pulled away from her long time friend.

"How did you know it would be me?" Tala asked the first question that came to him.

King smirked and pointed to his hair. "You are the only with red hair in this whole entire city. Besides that I had a feeling you would be coming. I had the Kingdom's Head Quarters stay the same so you could always come back to us." Queen smiled and ran her fingers through Tala's hair she laughed at King's joke about red hair.

"Look at you," Queen said before Tala could reply to King. "You've grown so much since we last saw you." She grabbed his chin with her thumb and forefinger and moved his head from left to right. "You're so beautiful. But look at you, bags under your eyes. And you're so thin!" Queen picked up Tala's wrist and wrapped her thumb and pinky around it they easily touched.

King scowled. "Have you been eating?" He snatched Tala's wrist from Queen's hand and wrapped his own around it. "Stretch your fingers out." Tala obeyed and held his hand out straight with his fingers spread apart.

Queen made a disapproving noise and clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "I can see every one of your damn bones and I can see some of you veins! You're way too skinny, Tala! You look sickly! Like you've seen a ghost or something!"

King's lips were pressed together tightly and his eyes flashed at Queen, sending a hidden message. "You do look terrible. But you have lost your baby fat… along with all your other fat." King looked annoyed and neither Tala nor Queen wanted that anger directed at them and decided to remain silent. "Why didn't you come back to us?" King ran a hand over one of the scars that he knew one of his men had given to Tala. "Why did it have to go so far?" King rubbed his fingers against a small scab on Tala's neck. "When did we get so far apart?"

Tala wanted to cry again, but his body was too tired and worn out to let him. "Something happened that night I tried to grab that old man's wallet. Remember I told you I would follow him and around and grabbed his cash." King nodded and Queen's eyes misted over and she sat back down onto Tala's lap and King sat down in a chair across from Tala.

"That man, he caught me as I walked by. I don't know how. I didn't even have to touch him …it's like he knew." Tala's voice grew far away and distant sounding. "He grabbed me and pulled out a gun. He said, 'How dare you try to steal from a Hiwitari!' … At least it was something like that. I can't exactly remember. But than the boy with him … I think he was older than you guys, around 17 maybe. He yelled, 'no' and he rushed the old man, knocked him down, and the old man sent guards after the kid to kill him. The guy yelled, 'run', and said that I shouldn't be in a gang. I took his advice and ran away, I was so scared."

King's mouth was dry. He remembered that day. Tala had been the confident young redheaded boy that King has first known. The Tala that King had coxed out of his old shell. Now … now Tala was literally a shell of his former self and most likely weighted less now that he did than. He acted like he did when King and Queen had first met him. It was scary to put it lightly. His friend was wasting away before his eyes and he didn't even realize it. Instead, all he cared about were the rumors that he had grown soft and aloud someone to leave the gang. Without thinking he repeatedly set his men on Tala. He never realized what he was doing to him. "Tala, what ever happened to that boy?" That boy… he should kill him.

"I have no clue, I can't remember anything past turning around and running away. All I knew was that the next day I woke up in an abandoned building. I contacted my Aunt and it went from there."

"I'm sorry Tala … Recently I've been a real bastard about all of this …"

"No it's fine … It … it wasn't you who did this to me."

"What do you mean, Tala?" Queen's soft soprano voice answered.

"I-I did this to myself." Tala lied. He couldn't tell them about the boy that had occupied his thought.

King sighed and rubbed his eyes, so Tala thought he could be fooled by that lie did he? "You're lying to me Tala." He whispered.

Tala's head snapped up and his marine colored eyes stared at King, wondering how he knew. "I'm not an idiot," he began softly "I know something has happened. What is it? Why did I go so far?" King was inwardly wondering if it had been because he had killed the boy and girl. He shook his head. _Nonsense, that can't be right! He couldn't have found his friends that quickly! He couldn't have looked so sleep deprived and thin from just one night … something is wrong. There is something different about him. I did this to him!_

Queen's eyes narrowed as she looked from Tala to King. _He's thinking something. Probably wondering if this wasn't really caused by him. He went too far killing the boy and the girl, and he went out of his way to make the boy jealous. He can be such a fool. But he's not blind. He may not have realized at first how thin Tala is, but he must realize that there is something wrong with him! He's not the same person we used to know! There is something frightening hiding within him. He has been touched … touched by something evil. _

Tala's mind was racing. What was he going to tell them! King knew! But he couldn't possibly… the only one who knew about the boy was him. It had to be something else that he was thinking …

"Everyone else, are they still here?"

"Of course everyone is still here Tala! Don't be silly!" Queen yelled with a smile. "Come on you need to see all of them!" Suddenly Tala felt himself being yanked up from the chair by a very happy woman and being pulled away. But just before she got him out the door he heard a voice whisper in his ear, "We will talk later Tala." There was a finality to the words and Tala knew it would be in his best interest to 'talk later' with King.

Kai spat on the ground and once again looked at his surroundings trying to figure out where Tala had gone. The younger boy had disappeared from the elder's sights after he had run off. Now Kai had no clue where the redheaded minx had gone and was stumped on how to find him.

"He couldn't have just disappeared right off the fucking face of the earth." Kai kicked a can and chewed on his lips in frustration. "So where the hell is he?"

"Early this morning the bodies of two teens were found today. They have yet to be identified and the only information that police are releasing is that the teens are twin brother and sister, with the girl being the younger. Both have silver hair and eyes and the boy is almost six feet tall and the girl around five feet. If anyone has any information or a call about missing twins please call the police at---" Kai whirled around and looked at the television. It was them, the twins' dead bodies have been found. It was just a matter of time before they got identified and people started searching for Tala. And putting two and two together… well things weren't looking good for Tala.

_The last person to be seen with the twins was Tala, and now the twins are dead and Tala is missing. This is just retarded; the murder I committed is going to get Tala into trouble when the murder was committed to keep him out of trouble. Tala, watching over you is tougher than watching over five year olds with ADD._ Kai shook his head. "We're all just going to hell." Kai rubbed his eyes with his hands. He needed help and lots of it. He needed Rei. Kai turned around and changed his course, heading to where Rei had told him he was.

Tala was greeting by blank faced stares and strange new faces. Self-consciously he rubbed his arm with one hand and tried to step back but King grabbed his arm. "What's the matter with all of you? You don't remember Ivanov?" King was getting annoyed at some of the stupidity of his subordinates. _I really need to get smarter idiots._

Bryan shook his head from side to side. He was the first one to speak. "Well I'll be damned, you owe me fifty bucks Ian. He's alive."

Tala blushed and muttered something about how he had missed everyone.

Suddenly another boy smiled and thrust his hand out to Tala; this one was short with blue hair and a nose too large for his face. It was Ian. "Nice going Ivanov. Your back less than a day and already you've cost me fifty bucks."

"You shouldn't bet Ian, you know how terrible you are at that," Tala softly chastised his friend.

"Dude you're back! We were worried about you!"

"Yup yup! It's great to see you safe and sound."

Tala smiled and greeted the two friends who were younger than him by a few years. Sadly they too looked different more mature and both towered over Tala. Tala laughed sadly, "I think you guys all grew up without me."

"Not all of us grew up Tala, some were never given the chance. Mystel and Garland were murder two years after you left." King spoke tiredly, he was so accustomed to death it bored him. But losing two strong members of his gang and two good friends did have an effect on him.

Tala turned sharply staring deep into King's eyes and seeing what he had hoped not to see, he sighed and looked down. "Not everyone comes out lucky I suppose."

"No," Queen shook her head in agreement. "Not everyone comes out lucky."

"We should talk about something lighter. Maybe celebrate the return of out beautiful rose?" a voice spoke up.

King turned to Tala; "Though we lost good comrades we gained two more who could never take their place but we welcome them all the same." King pointed out towards the back of the room where a boy with orange hair, shades lighter than Tala's own blood red locks and a boy with navy blue hair that looked suspiciously like Tyson's, standing in the corner. They walked up to the returning member and each held out a hand that Tala shook.

"But I do believe a celebration is underway, no? We need one after all these dark times," Queen said.

"My agreement is wholeheartedly," King replied.

Tala felt warmer than he had ever felt with his old friends. There had always been something lacking in the relationships with people outside the gang. The thing that had been missing must have been the truthfulness, which Tala hadn't given to his friends but had selfishly kept his own.

He knew not coming back would have killed him in more ways than one.

Kai couldn't believe was he was looking at. The window looked like someone had been thrown out it, there were large deep gashes in the wall and blooded soaked into the carpet. And Rei was nowhere to be seen.

"Rei? Rei, are you here?" Kai's desperation was mounting and in an act so unlike himself he found him yelling for Rei even though he knew he wasn't going to answer. Tiny drops of blood fell from his fist as his nails dug into the tender skin of his palms. The room was covered in a veil of silence and unasked questions. It was the eerie feeling you felt whenever you went where something bad had happened. He knew all about that feeling because he had felt it a few times before.

Murder # 4

Kai's fingers twitched in anticipation. This was it; the very last one was going to die. He would get his redemption. They would never again fuck with him or try to fool him. And dead people didn't tell secrets so Kai thought everything would be all right. No one had seen him in the school and he knew for a fact that the security cameras were broken and besides no matter what, his Grandfather would pay for him to be over looked by the police.

Quietly Kai turned the corner and snuck across the hallway to Class A. He looked in through the window in the door and had the shock of his life when he saw Enrique kissing another boy. Kai's mouth hung open as he peered into the window. That ass! He had made fun of Kai about being queer and here he was shoving his fucking tongue down a _boy's _throat. He was such a fucking hypocrite. But Kai had his mind made up, Enrique was going to die and Kai would kill off his little green-haired boyfriend too.

Gripping the doorknob Kai turned it with a soft click and the two kissing teens never heard the door opening. They didn't know Kai was in the room until the boy felt the cold metal of the gun on his neck. Kai pulled the trigger and with a soft pop the boy was dead. Enrique sat shaking with the boy's dead body on his lap slumped against him as it had when the boy was living. He was shocked and horrified but a light of understanding grew in his eyes and he turned to face Kai. Kai pulled the body off Enrique's lap and let it hit the floor with a sickening thud.

"You're a walking contradiction, you know that?" Kai spoke quietly as he fiddled with the gun and checked the clip to make sure he had enough bullets left. Enrique said nothing and just stared at the floor. Kai grew annoyed and lifted Enrique's chin so his eyes met him own. Enrique scowled at Kai and all the other boy did was smile.

"Oh don't be that way baby, we both know you would probably like nothing better than for me to strip naked in front of you," Kai laughed nastily and sat down on Enrique's lap, ignoring how he stiffened and looked away guiltily. Kai chuckled, "So I was right. You're one sick fucker, you know that?" Kai kissed Enrique and drew away to look at the boy's face. "You had to tell everyone that I was a gay fag, you couldn't keep quiet but you went along with it all. You could have backed away and denied it and said they were making it up. But no, instead you went along with it and betrayed me. And you know what probably makes it worse? The fact that you're a gay fag too," Kai whispered against Enrique's neck. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Please kill me." Enrique looked up at Kai with tears in his eyes.

"Of course, dear friend."

_Click_

"I'm sorry that all of this happened Kai. I'm just so sorry."

"I wish I felt the same."

_Pop_

Enrique's body let out a shudder and convulsed as the bullet entered his brain. Kai pushed himself off his friend's lap and planted a kiss on his cheek. "It was real fun but I have to be going now." Kai laughed. Everything was fun everything was the way he wanted it to be. But best of all that annoying song stopped playing over and over in his head and he finally had peace and quiet in his mind. The infernal racket of the song had stopped.

Oddly though Kai didn't feel as good as he thought he would feel. He felt bad and depressed. He had killed those people but he had killed others because of his grandfather. He never enjoyed killing so it was odd that Kai even thought about killing someone he didn't have to. He was turning into a monster. He wasn't human anymore. He was something else, something worse. He cried softly and walked back to his grandfather's mansion with the gun hidden in his pocket. He would tell his grandfather everything and his grandfather would help him. He said he would always help Kai no matter what. Kai just hoped what he had just done wasn't worse than 'no matter what'.

End Murder # 4

Kai ran a finger through the blood, moved it up to his nose and sniffed it. This was indeed Rei's blood. But there was an odd smell to it, something that smelt like graveyard dirt. It smelt dead, something that had been dead for an insanely long time. It wasn't Rei who was dead it was something else. What ever had done this to him was dead. Either they were dead or they spent a long time hanging out with dead people.

He let out a soft noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a cough. That was it he didn't know what else to do. He was out of options, he could either go after Rei or he could go after Tala. Either way he was going to be alone. He leaned against a wall and ran a hand through his hair, which was black again. He unfurled his wings and it changed back to its unique blue-gray color. Kai sighed and clutched the wall tightly he had to find Tala. Tala was his number one priority even if Rei was his only and best friend. There was nothing he could do; Tala was the most important thing on his agenda. Kai stepped out of the broken window and let the air that was rushing up to greet him as he free fell take him away. His wings caught the air and he gliding softly somewhere between heaven and earth.

Tala sighed and snuck out of the party that was going on in the old decrepit building. The party raging on inside was a welcoming party for him but he didn't feel much like getting drunk till he passed out. King and Queen were already half way to that point and getting steadily closer to it each minute. Other gang members danced half naked around the house to the beat thumping from the speakers. The smell of sweat and alcohol permeated the air and made Tala dizzy. Out in the cold night air he rubbed his arms and thought of his other friends. Right now they were probably running around frantic afraid that he too was dead like the twins. He wondered if the twins had been found yet. He hated worrying people but it was for their own good that they didn't associate with him any longer.

Tala sniffed but it did nothing to stop the tickle of tears coming out of his eyes. He remembered his mother once telling him that not crying was worse than crying. Suddenly he heard the flapping of wings and looked up startled. The only animals ever found in this part of the city were rats and the occasional starving cat or dog. He searched the sky with his eyes but saw nothing. Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder softly and Tala stiffened. The hand turned him around and Tala opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. It was the freakish boy from before that had killed Chris and Arty. Tala was horrified, he had tried to forget about his friends' murders but now it came back to him and he wasn't ready. A whimper came out of his throat but was drowned out by the thumping sound of his heart in his ears.

The boy stared into Tala's blue eyes with wine colored ones. "Don't cry little one," he spoke softly. His voice was deep and enchanting. Tala could almost feel the words swirl around him and slowly settle, making him uneasy but also giving him a slight feeling of relief. "You are in no pain so don't cry."

Tala blinked his eyes slowly trying to clear the tears from them. "I don't want to live anymore."

"Don't ever say something like that again. There are people who need you right now. Your friends need you and Mrs. Dowde probably needs you the most. You were the closest person to the twins and their mother misses you dearly almost as much as she misses her own children." Kai whipped a tear away from Tala's eyes. His voice had a cold edge to it and made Tala shiver.

"They found the twins?"

"Yes they found them. They're looking for you too." Tala sobbed and hugged Kai. Kai stiffened and looked surprised but than his expression softened. "Don't cry little one. You're worth more than you can imagine." Tala shoved his face further into Kai's chest and uncertainly the older boy moved his hands towards him in jerky movements. Kai made soft noises like a mother would to a child and rocked Tala like his mother used to rock him.

"You're worth so much more than you can imagine to so many people. You hold the key to freedom for more than one person." Tala hiccupped and Kai leaned his cheek against Tala's red hair. He didn't understand most of what the older boy meant but he knew that at least someone cared.

"Everyone has left me. Even you, you killed my best friends. I don't know who you are but I hate you." Tala sobbed and inhaled Kai's musky scent.

"It's ironic how you hate me, yet I'm the only one here for you now."

To be continued

Arty - Well there you go. Took me longer than I expected but oh well.

Yaumi - Please review!

Akuma - Yes review it is fun to watch Arty run around in a haze of happiness like a lunatic.

Note – My computer is crapping out on me so now I have to use the one down stairs; I won't be able to get on too often. But never fear because school is starting and I can type their too.


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